Green Party delegates will meet on October 17 to discuss whether to use the waka-jumping law to oust former Green MP Darleen Tana from Parliament.
The party had tried to do it this month, but the process to oust Tana was put on hold while she brought legal action against the party, arguing the Greens had not followed their own constitution in investigating her and requesting her resignation.
The court sided with the Greens. Tana’s lawyer told the Herald to wait until October 2 to hear whether she will appeal that decision or not.
Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick said word had gone out to the party’s branches to discuss what they wanted to happen next and to elect delegates for the special general meeting. Most branches had already had these discussions and elected delegates.
The delegates would need to find consensus or reach a threshold of 75% support to oust Tana.
“This is legislation we have a history with as well,” Swarbrick said, adding that she wanted to make sure it was discussed and considered thoroughly by party members.
Swarbrick said she had faith and trust in the party to make the right decision.
“We have also been looking for accountability,” she said, urging Tana to resign from Parliament.
“She is not a member of the Green Party anymore. She is not fit to be a member of Parliament.”
As long as she stayed in Parliament, the Greens would continue with this process, Swarbrick said.
Tana quit the party this year after a damning report into what she knew about alleged migrant exploitation at her husband’s business. She now sits as an independent.
Speaking to radio station 531pi on Tuesday morning, Tana said she wanted to “make the peace”.
She acknowledged going to court “may have seemed a strange way to do that”, but it was important to do so when she saw the “cancel culture behaviour” happening to Green Party supporters who backed her, Tana said.
“I needed to just call time on some horrendous behaviour,” she said.
Several of the Greens’ Pasifika members resigned in July over what they considered the poor treatment of Tana as well as other process issues.
Tana said she understood the Greens were still considering their next steps. She did not appear too concerned about being forced to leave Parliament.
“I never got into politics to become a career politician, I went into it for the kaupapa ... I don’t have hang-ups about letting that go. The mahi still continues.”
She claimed the party wasn’t following tikanga and had “slammed wahine Māori”.
Tana said the Greens’ treatment of her had been “shocking” and “violent”.
Swarbrick and Greens MP Teanau Tuiono responded to Tana’s concerns on Tuesday by saying that tikanga involved taking accountability for one’s actions, which they didn’t believe Tana had been doing.
The Greens have effectively restarted a process that began in July, at the party’s AGM, where members decided to at least discuss using the waka-jumping bill to get rid of Tana.
In July, the Greens decided to call the special general meeting (SGM) to decide her fate. Party members at branches throughout the country would debate whether they wanted to use the waka-jumping law on Tana and then elect delegates to the SGM who would ultimately decide whether to remove Tana or not. A minimum of 75% of party delegates in agreement was required to remove her.
The meeting was set to be held on September 1 but was cancelled on August 28 after an agreement between Tana and the Greens, while the case was heard at the Auckland High Court.
The process could be restarted quite quickly. Branches have already met, debated and selected their delegates.
If members decide to remove Tana, the party co-leaders would write to the Speaker notifying him of their belief her continued presence interferes with the proportionality of Parliament and that she should be removed. Tana would be the first MP to be expelled under the current iteration of the waka-jumping law.