Editorial: Sooner Harawira leaves Parliament the better

Hone Harawira. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Some political protesters make the transition to Parliament successfully, some do not. Hone Harawira has not. He is happier outside a party with power, hurling invective at its decisions.

That is the reason he has made another attack on his colleagues, that and vindictiveness perhaps, for the way they made him crawl for survival the last time he thought his electorate made him bigger than the Maori Party. The party president invited him to apologise or walk and he apologised.

This time he might not be so compliant. It is election year, he might be ready to strike out on his own regardless of the party's decision on the complaint his parliamentary whip has laid against him. The party should repeat its 2009 ultimatum: recant or go.

He has more to lose than the party does. He is confident that he could hold his Tai Tokerau seat as an independent, but like many egotists he is stand-offish at gatherings and prefers the company of acolytes.

He assumes the views of his electorate committee are those of the electorate at large. He may discover otherwise, particularly if the Maori Party picks a good candidate to replace him.

The party, if it loses him, may stand to lose the support of Maori extremists. That at least is the accepted wisdom. But how true is it? How many Maori have ever been as extreme as the Harawira family?

Activists who cannot make the transition are a waste of parliamentary salary. The sooner he goes the better.