July 7, 2024 • 7 mins
Green MP Darleen Tana has spent half of her short Parliamentary career under investigation, after allegations she is linked to migrant exploitation at her husband’s bicycle company.
A report on the lengthy investigation was delivered to the Green Party on Friday night, and the party has now called on Tana to resign.
To explain what’s happening, and why they aren’t firing Tana themselves, for this bonus episode of The Front Page, Cherlsea talks with Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer: Paddy Fox
Producer: Ethan Sills
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Kielda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is a bonus episode
of the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the
New Zealand Herald. Green MP Darlene Tana has spent half
of her short parliamentary career under investigation after allegations she's
(00:25):
linked to migrant exploitation at her husband's bicycle company. A
report on the lengthy investigation was delivered to the Green
Party on Friday night, and the party is now called
on Tana to resign. To explain what's happening and why
the Greens aren't firing Tana themselves. We're joined now on
the Front Page by Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls. Jason,
(00:53):
can you give us the cliff notes version of who
Darlene Tana is and what she was accused of doing?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The cliff note versions of who she is? I couldn't
do that because she was not very well known before
she entered parliament. In fact, her rise to prominence came
exclusively because of these allegations of migrant exploitation at her
husband's e bike company. And since then it's been as
of recording, one hundred and fifteen days. It has been
a long drawn out process as we tried to determine
(01:22):
who is this person and what has she or hasn't
she done, And the release of the Green Party's statement
sheds very little light into either of those questions.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, the Greens finally got that report on Tana on
Friday night. Hey, they held a caucus meeting over the
weekend with China involved. Now they've asked her to resign
from parliament. What do you make of this process?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
It's a process that somewhat ironically, the Greens have found
themselves in before with Elizabeth Ketty Kenny. I mean, they're
vehemently against the Walker jumping legislation, which would have meant
that she would have been a lot easier to dispatch. However,
since they were very against that, couldn't exactly use it
on their own MPs once, certainly not twice. So it
(02:04):
means that the caucus and the Green Party leadership has
asked her to resign from the Green Party, which she has.
But the question lingering at this stage is will she
resign from parliament. At this stage, technically she's counted as
an independent MP, just like Elizabeth Ketty Ketty was, just
like Jamie Lee Ross was just like good av Chardamau was.
So it's not exactly a stacked roster of people that
(02:25):
you want to compare yourself with. And so she's in
political limbo at this stage while we figure out is
she going to stay or is she going to go?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Do you find it astonishing that an MP can spend
half their parliamentary career under investigation and still be on
full pay.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well, yes and no. I agreed from the outset with
the Green Party that there had to be some elements
of natural justice. You are innocent until proven guilty, so
requiring you to leave parliament and stopping your pay would
have been a step too far. But one hundred and
fifteen days granted, half of it, maybe about forty thousand
dollars of it, was paid by tax payers. The rest
was paid for by the Green Party itself. I mean,
(03:04):
it's a terrible look for the party. Although it was
following what it said was due process, it sounded like
there was a lot of legal back and forth that
happened behind the scenes, which again we don't know yet
because we don't have the report.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
The Greens aren't going to force Tanner to quit themselves
and they won't invoke the so called walker jumping legislation
you mentioned before to sack. MP's former Greens co leader
James Shaw called such a process draconian and anti democratic.
Does that hold up considering Tana only came in on
the list of a party that doesn't want her anymore.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Well, you've got to consider the counterfactual of what the
democracy in the situation is. I mean, Tana is not
the face of the Green Party. Very few people went
to the polls and said I'm voting for the Greens
because I want Darlien Tana to be an MP. Therefore,
she hasn't got the right to say that she is
here represented by the people if she stays on as
a Green MP. She stood as an independent MP. Rather,
(03:59):
she stood in the Auckland Central Marty seat of Palmakee
Mikado and lost that seat quite significantly. It was a
battle between Tipati Marti's candidate and Pinie Hennare from the
Labor Party. She didn't have a showing, So there is
no way that you can argue it's democratic that she's
there being an independent. She has less right to be
there than anybody else that came third on the voting
(04:20):
block of any other place. Across the country. It's just
the Greens seemed to be consistently shooting themselves in both
feet when it comes to this walker jumping legislation. They
were the biggest opponents of it, but now it's come
to bite them a couple of times. Now they'll be
considering their options. And I wonder if James Shaw sticks
by those comments or whether he doesn't care because he
doesn't have to be involved anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You and Thomas Coglin on on the Tiles podcast said,
Chloe Swarbrick is basically the only Green MP really performing
well at the moment. Is she handling this case quite well?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Do you think she came out quite strong in that
press conference. I mean, she was hamstrung about what she
could and couldn't say in the which is extremely disappointing.
But what she had to do was make us read
between the lines, which she did. She said things like
it is crystal clear that her conduct didn't meet the threshold.
She said it fell very, very far short, and that
(05:13):
she was extremely disappointed in the actions of Darlian Tanna.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Protecting our planet and caring for our people, our core
to who we are and as co leaders Martima and
I have clear expectations that our MP's are guided by
those values. This is why, following the conclusion of the
expert independent investigation into the allegations surrounding Darlene Tana, Martima
(05:39):
and I recommended to Caucus that we request her resignation
as a Member of Parliament.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So all we can do is put together the pieces
and say her husband was accused of migrant exploitations and
allegations that he's denied. The probe about a Tana was
to understand her level of involvement or even knowledge, and
so looking at what the co leader has said on
balance without seeing the report, they must have found something
(06:10):
that was extremely improper for them to have this sort
of reaction.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
What does this mean for the Greens on a whole.
They've had a rough year of it for multiple reasons.
Once Tana's gone, will they be able to finally move on.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's going to be tough for them to move on
from this because it's not the first scandal of the year.
I mean, of course, they had the Goldways Guaman scandal
as well, that is still hanging over them as that
has played out in court. I mean, obviously different kettle
of fish, but the official Collins tragic death as well,
doesn't I mean it's really done a knock on caucus morale.
(06:45):
So this will be exactly what the Greens won't want.
They'll want to be holding the government to account on
a number of things. In Chloe Swarbrick is quickly learning
that being a party leader isn't all smiles, handshakes and
kissing babies. It's a lot of putting up fires and
she's had to be a firefight of a forest fire
that she never envisaged.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Thanks for joining us, Jason. That's it for this episode
of the Front Page. You can read more about today's
stories and extensive news coverage at enzet Herald dot co
dot z. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Siles
with sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to
(07:26):
The Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
Kielda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is a bonus episode
of the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the
New Zealand Herald. Green MP Darlene Tana has spent half
of her short parliamentary career under investigation after allegations she's
(00:25):
linked to migrant exploitation at her husband's bicycle company. A
report on the lengthy investigation was delivered to the Green
Party on Friday night, and the party is now called
on Tana to resign. To explain what's happening and why
the Greens aren't firing Tana themselves. We're joined now on
the Front Page by Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls. Jason,
(00:53):
can you give us the cliff notes version of who
Darlene Tana is and what she was accused of doing?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The cliff note versions of who she is? I couldn't
do that because she was not very well known before
she entered parliament. In fact, her rise to prominence came
exclusively because of these allegations of migrant exploitation at her
husband's e bike company. And since then it's been as
of recording, one hundred and fifteen days. It has been
a long drawn out process as we tried to determine
(01:22):
who is this person and what has she or hasn't
she done, And the release of the Green Party's statement
sheds very little light into either of those questions.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, the Greens finally got that report on Tana on
Friday night. Hey, they held a caucus meeting over the
weekend with China involved. Now they've asked her to resign
from parliament. What do you make of this process?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
It's a process that somewhat ironically, the Greens have found
themselves in before with Elizabeth Ketty Kenny. I mean, they're
vehemently against the Walker jumping legislation, which would have meant
that she would have been a lot easier to dispatch. However,
since they were very against that, couldn't exactly use it
on their own MPs once, certainly not twice. So it
(02:04):
means that the caucus and the Green Party leadership has
asked her to resign from the Green Party, which she has.
But the question lingering at this stage is will she
resign from parliament. At this stage, technically she's counted as
an independent MP, just like Elizabeth Ketty Ketty was, just
like Jamie Lee Ross was just like good av Chardamau was.
So it's not exactly a stacked roster of people that
(02:25):
you want to compare yourself with. And so she's in
political limbo at this stage while we figure out is
she going to stay or is she going to go?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Do you find it astonishing that an MP can spend
half their parliamentary career under investigation and still be on
full pay.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well, yes and no. I agreed from the outset with
the Green Party that there had to be some elements
of natural justice. You are innocent until proven guilty, so
requiring you to leave parliament and stopping your pay would
have been a step too far. But one hundred and
fifteen days granted, half of it, maybe about forty thousand
dollars of it, was paid by tax payers. The rest
was paid for by the Green Party itself. I mean,
(03:04):
it's a terrible look for the party. Although it was
following what it said was due process, it sounded like
there was a lot of legal back and forth that
happened behind the scenes, which again we don't know yet
because we don't have the report.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
The Greens aren't going to force Tanner to quit themselves
and they won't invoke the so called walker jumping legislation
you mentioned before to sack. MP's former Greens co leader
James Shaw called such a process draconian and anti democratic.
Does that hold up considering Tana only came in on
the list of a party that doesn't want her anymore.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Well, you've got to consider the counterfactual of what the
democracy in the situation is. I mean, Tana is not
the face of the Green Party. Very few people went
to the polls and said I'm voting for the Greens
because I want Darlien Tana to be an MP. Therefore,
she hasn't got the right to say that she is
here represented by the people if she stays on as
a Green MP. She stood as an independent MP. Rather,
(03:59):
she stood in the Auckland Central Marty seat of Palmakee
Mikado and lost that seat quite significantly. It was a
battle between Tipati Marti's candidate and Pinie Hennare from the
Labor Party. She didn't have a showing, So there is
no way that you can argue it's democratic that she's
there being an independent. She has less right to be
there than anybody else that came third on the voting
(04:20):
block of any other place. Across the country. It's just
the Greens seemed to be consistently shooting themselves in both
feet when it comes to this walker jumping legislation. They
were the biggest opponents of it, but now it's come
to bite them a couple of times. Now they'll be
considering their options. And I wonder if James Shaw sticks
by those comments or whether he doesn't care because he
doesn't have to be involved anymore.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
You and Thomas Coglin on on the Tiles podcast said,
Chloe Swarbrick is basically the only Green MP really performing
well at the moment. Is she handling this case quite well?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Do you think she came out quite strong in that
press conference. I mean, she was hamstrung about what she
could and couldn't say in the which is extremely disappointing.
But what she had to do was make us read
between the lines, which she did. She said things like
it is crystal clear that her conduct didn't meet the threshold.
She said it fell very, very far short, and that
(05:13):
she was extremely disappointed in the actions of Darlian Tanna.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Protecting our planet and caring for our people, our core
to who we are and as co leaders Martima and
I have clear expectations that our MP's are guided by
those values. This is why, following the conclusion of the
expert independent investigation into the allegations surrounding Darlene Tana, Martima
(05:39):
and I recommended to Caucus that we request her resignation
as a Member of Parliament.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So all we can do is put together the pieces
and say her husband was accused of migrant exploitations and
allegations that he's denied. The probe about a Tana was
to understand her level of involvement or even knowledge, and
so looking at what the co leader has said on
balance without seeing the report, they must have found something
(06:10):
that was extremely improper for them to have this sort
of reaction.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
What does this mean for the Greens on a whole.
They've had a rough year of it for multiple reasons.
Once Tana's gone, will they be able to finally move on.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It's going to be tough for them to move on
from this because it's not the first scandal of the year.
I mean, of course, they had the Goldways Guaman scandal
as well, that is still hanging over them as that
has played out in court. I mean, obviously different kettle
of fish, but the official Collins tragic death as well,
doesn't I mean it's really done a knock on caucus morale.
(06:45):
So this will be exactly what the Greens won't want.
They'll want to be holding the government to account on
a number of things. In Chloe Swarbrick is quickly learning
that being a party leader isn't all smiles, handshakes and
kissing babies. It's a lot of putting up fires and
she's had to be a firefight of a forest fire
that she never envisaged.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Thanks for joining us, Jason. That's it for this episode
of the Front Page. You can read more about today's
stories and extensive news coverage at enzet Herald dot co
dot z. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Siles
with sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to
(07:26):
The Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts,
and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.
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