Turia quits Labour, stripped of portfolios

By RUTH BERRY and HELEN TUNNAH

A clearly relieved Tariana Turia announced yesterday that she would quit Labour and force a byelection, saying a new Maori political movement had been born.

However, her decision to strike out on her own received an immediate setback when Prime Minister Helen Clark denied her wish for a byelection battle with Labour.

Mrs Turia will vote against the seabed and foreshore legislation next week, and resign from Parliament and Labour on May 17.

That will trigger a byelection in the Maori electorate of Te Tai Hauauru, probably around July 3 and at a cost to taxpayers of $450,000. Mrs Turia holds the seat for Labour by more than 8600 votes.

After hearing of the decision, Helen Clark spoke to Tainui MP Nanaia Mahuta, who also plans to vote against the legislation, and was assured she would not leave Labour.

Mrs Turia travelled to historic Ratana Pa to announce her decision to several hundred family and friends, later smiling broadly and saying she was relieved and happy.

While she took time to emphasise her respect for Helen Clark, the Prime Minister did not return the compliment, saying Mrs Turia's naivety in wanting to vote against the Government and stay in the Executive was of "astonishing proportions".

"It is an astonishing lack of perspective to throw your job and the work you do for your people up in the air over this issue."

Asked if she thought Mrs Turia had always intended to vote against the legislation, and not abstain as she had indicated earlier in the year, Helen Clark said there had been an element of duplicity.

"I think she has had it in her mind to do this for some time. But when push came to shove ... she couldn't look me in the eye and say that."

Mrs Turia said the foreshore and seabed might be the most significant issue she would face in her lifetime.

"At the end of the day, it came down to a question of integrity and I had to act for my people."

She has not revealed whether she will become the figurehead for a new Maori political movement, but said it was time for Maori to take control of their political destiny.

"It is the right time for our people to start thinking about where their political alliance should be, and I feel quite confident about what we as a people can achieve."

Helen Clark, who heard Mrs Turia's decision second-hand, immediately said she was sacking the Associate Maori Affairs Minister from the Executive and stripping her of all her ministerial portfolios.

She conceded that she had "no idea" if Labour might have won a byelection, but there is little doubt it would have struggled to unseat Mrs Turia.

"Win or lose, it is pointless," Helen Clark said. "It is a sideshow, it is a stunt ... and frankly we're not wasting our time and money."

Mrs Turia indicated that she felt she had been a victim of a smear campaign this week, perhaps led by the Prime Minister's office, and that had persuaded her to resign. There had been "a deliberate portrayal of me as some kind of idiot, as someone who doesn't know her mind".