Cam Slater: Greens Beg Tana to Resign

The Greens are looking quite pathetic as they are now literally begging Darleen Tana to resign from parliament, mainly because she’s embarrassed them but also because they want her to resign so the next Green womble can come in on the list.

The Green Party has asked MP Darleen Tana to resign from Parliament following the conclusion of the independent investigation into allegations of migrant exploitation.

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said Tana’s conduct had “fallen far short of the expectations Marama [Davidson, fellow co-leader] and I have of our caucus, and of the values the Green Party upholds”.

Swarbrick said Tana was not upfront with her and she felt “utterly betrayed”. She put the message out to Tana to “please resign”.

“It is our very strong view that she misled myself and Marama,” Swarbrick said.

“I am finding it really hard to reconcile somebody I thought I knew and loved with the behaviour that is outlined in this report.”

NZ Herald

In my experience grifters always keep on grifting. She’s resigned from the Green Party, but is yet to resign from parliament. She may well stay on to vex the Greens, take up her seat and continue to spend all her time on Waiheke or attending pro-Palestine rallies while on full pay from parliament, essentially doing the bare minimum to continue to score her fat salary.

Tana was suspended from caucus in March after allegations she was linked to migrant exploitation at her husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen’s bicycle company Bikes and Beyond. Hoff-Nielsen denied all the exploitation allegations at the time and told the Herald: “This is not a news story, there is no news.”

NZ Herald

Except it was a news story and still is a news story.

On top of that, Darleen Tana might yet be before the courts and facing charges. There could well be criminal prosecution under the Immigration Act. It sounds serious enough for that to be possible. Let’s see, shall we?

Under the waka-jumping law, a specific process has to be followed for Tana to be kicked out of Parliament.

She has to cease to be a member of the Green Party, which requires one of two actions.

The first is for Tana to write to Speaker Gerry Brownlee, telling him she has resigned from the Green Party or wishes to be recognised as either an independent MP or a member of another political party.

The second is for either Swarbrick or fellow co-leader Davidson to write to Brownlee saying that Tana remaining in Parliament would distort its proportionality as determined at the election, and that they have given Tana notice of this, which would give her 21 working days to respond.

NZ Herald

The Greens are kind of snookered here, because they have vociferously opposed the waka- jumping legislation at every set. For them to suddenly invoke the legislation would be hypocritical and require them to swallow a very large vegan rat…oh wait! They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Of course she could always resort to the standard left-wing excuse for appalling behaviour: previously un-diagnosed mental health issues.

Cam Slater is a New Zealand-based blogger, best known for his role in Dirty Politics and publishing the Whale Oil Beef Hooked blog, which operated from 2005 until it closed in 2019. Cam blogs regularly on the BFD - where this article was sourced.