Dr Bryce Edwards is Political Analyst in Residence, director of the Democracy Project, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington.
OPINION
It’s time to call out the Greens for their continued refusal to front on the allegations of migrant exploitation involving one of their MPs. Of all the various scandals and dramas besieging the party over the last year, this is the most serious one, deserving maximum public scrutiny.
The party appears to be dragging the chain in their processes dealing with the allegations. It’s been 104 days since they launched an inquiry and suspended MP Darleen Tana. Although the party endlessly deflects questions about the allegations, citing an “independent inquiry” and “natural justice”, the public could be forgiven for scepticism about whether the party is being open and transparent enough. There is a clear public interest in having the allegations of migrant exploitation resolved, and politicians made accountable.
Timeframes of Green investigation
Everything about the Green Party’s investigation of its MP has been somewhat opaque. Most importantly, the public hasn’t been given any timeframes and details of the different stages involved in the process.
The timing has been particularly unclear. When the party announced on March 14 that it had commissioned Wellington barrister Rachel Burt to carry out an inquiry, there was a suggestion it would take about two weeks to complete. It has now taken nearly 15 weeks.
There was an update on the length of the inquiry on April 9 when co-leader Marama Davidson told Newshub’s The Hui that the total process was expected to take a month and that the process was “winding down” and “coming towards the end”.
In early May, the other co-leader, Chlöe Swarbrick, said the investigation would be finished that month. But on May 19, she implied on TVNZ’s Q+A that the investigations would now take longer because further allegations had arisen. The next day on Newstalk ZB, Swarbrick explained that the terms of reference for the inquiry had been officially expanded.
The timeframe gets more interesting, because one of the migrant workers who has made allegations against Tana, Santiago Latour Palma, volunteered to talk to the inquiry on May 25. He contacted Burt explaining that although he was initially unwilling to be interviewed - due to the belief that the Greens’ terms of reference for the investigation were too narrow - he was now happy to help provide further evidence to her and talk.
Strangely, he was declined. Burt said she needed to check with the Green Party first, saying “because I am soon to provide my draft report”. She then reported that Santiago had “missed his opportunity to meet with me” because a meeting at “this juncture would cause further delay to completion of the investigation”.
That was over four weeks ago. Given that the Greens suggest that report still hasn’t been completed, this refusal to meet with a key witness is rather questionable.
Green MP Darleen Tana is subject to an inquiry.
Handling of Darleen Tana scandal now also an integrity issue
The allegations about migrant exploitation by a Green MP were serious enough. But the party’s handling of integrity issues is also under scrutiny now. Thus far, the Greens are struggling to show that they manage these sorts of issues any better than other parties - and perhaps even worse.
The Greens have refused to be transparent about their process, regarding it as a private matter. Very few details have been given about the investigation. If the party wanted the public to have confidence in their processes, then they would have given full details of the terms of reference for the inquiry, the expected timeframes (with updates on these as they changed, including briefings and draft reports), and the details of the process for what would occur after the report was delivered.
The refusal to front in any detail invites further media scrutiny. Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking spoke about this last month, saying, “In the Tana case, it is not just the questions around her behaviour and alleged treatment of people. It’s the approach the party’s leadership has taken to getting to the bottom of it.” And he conveyed how his media outlet had asked the Greens many times for updates, and initially, they told Newstalk ZB the report would be ready “any day now”, which then turned into “a few more weeks”.
It begins to look like the Greens are guilty of the exploitation of democracy. Certainly, the party might be accused of exploiting every possible deflection tool possible to avoid scrutiny. For example, in refusing to talk about the Tana case, Green co-leaders have pleaded that “the processes of natural justice” means they can’t answer questions. Similarly, co-leader Swarbrick has been continuously inclined to stress that Tana is “innocent until proven guilty”, and therefore, the issue couldn’t be debated. And yesterday, Swarbrick once again said “we cannot give updates” on the investigation, citing “natural justice” considerations. Moreover, because the party has suspended Tana from Parliament, she also can’t be asked questions.
High cost of Tana investigation
So far, taxpayers’ funds have been used to pay for the Tana inquiry costs. After the first nine weeks of the inquiry, it was reported that $43,000 had been spent on this from the Green Party’s parliamentary “leaders’ fund”.
The bill has risen since then. But last week, the Green Party leaders emerged from talks with Parliament’s Speaker Gerry Brownlee and announced: “The party is paying for the remainder of the investigation.”
Of course, the taxpayer is also paying Tana’s salary, expenses, and staffing costs while she is on paid leave. Journalist Glenn McConnell has calculated Tana’s “purgatory pay” as $6306 per fortnight, meaning that by the end of this week, she would’ve been paid about $47,000 for being on leave. However, given the Remuneration Authority’s subsequent decision to give a backdated pay increase to MPs, the figure could be larger.
Additional information about Tana
This week, Stuff journalist Steve Kilgallon has published further details of Tana’s involvement in the employment of the migrant workers who have been making allegations about her. One of the workers, Palma, has handed over WhatsApp communications between himself and Tana, which appear to show her managing the staff and their employment conditions - contradicting Tana’s claim that she had nothing to do with the operations of the business owned by her husband, Christian Hoff-Nielsen.
Christian Hoff-Neilsen, husband of Darleen Tana, arrives at his E-bike shop in Auckland's Newmarket. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Some WhatsApp message exchanges suggest the Immigration Act has been breached. For example, one message from Tana tells him he can be employed in her husband’s bike shop on his working visa, despite the visa stating he needed to be restricted to horticultural and viticultural employment.
Another message from Tana appears to tell the worker that he was required to continue working in the bike shop during the first Covid lockdown because his job was an essential service. On the face of it, Tana appears to have broken Covid-19 laws.
Much of this evidence appears to contradict Tana’s claim that she was not involved in managing the migrant workers at her husband’s business. Kilgallon reports that the messages “involve her instructing the worker on his working hours and times, repairs and deliveries, and discussing wages and contracts”.
There are also messages from Tana’s husband that reiterate that Tana oversaw their employment. He told the worker in 2022 to contact Tana about any such issues: “If u want help with wages as we have discussed many many times its Darleen.” Tana also discussed with the workers her use of the Government’s wage subsidy scheme to pay their wages during Covid.
Also this week, the Electoral Commission announced that they have referred Tana to the police, along with a magazine publisher, for allegedly breaching section 204F of the Electoral Act last year. Tana had paid Auckland Verve Magazine to run a profile of her – in which she was described as a “purpose-driven businesswoman” - but the sponsored content should have included a “promoter statement” authorising it as an election advertisement.
The Greens are probably in negotiations with Tana
It’s hard to believe that the official inquiry has not reported back anything to the Green Party over the last 104 days. In all likelihood, the party would have received a draft or a final report from the investigation some time ago.
Without any real transparency, the party leaders have probably been dealing with the post-report stage of the scandal: deciding what to do with Tana. Swarbrick has acknowledged this to some degree, telling Newstalk ZB over a month ago that “conversations were being had within the party regarding its response to the possible outcomes of the investigation”. Such conversations will require more lawyers and negotiations with Tana herself. And much of it will depend on exactly what the inquiry report has found.
Technically, the inquiry might not be finished, but this won’t prevent those negotiations from occurring. Last week, political commentator David Farrar, who has been involved in the National Party for decades and knows a lot about internal party inquiries, outlined what is likely to be occurring behind the scenes: “It does not take 100 days to interview a dozen people, scrutinise documents etc. The Greens will try and argue that they are not covering up, on the basis they have not had a final final report. But what they will have received long ago is either a written draft report, or an oral briefing on it, and draft conclusions on whether there is substance.”
Farrar also speculates on why the hold-up in the Greens could be occurring: “Because she is refusing to go quietly, almost inevitably. She has either lawyered up to stop the Greens releasing the final report, or she is refusing to resign. The Greens can’t force her to resign (unless they used the waka jumping law they oppose), and it would be embarrassing to them to have her remain in Parliament as an independent MP. Or worse, she could be threatening to defect to Te Pāti Māori if they sanction her, claiming the investigation against her has been neo-colonial and is structurally racist.”
Political parties need better processes for investigating MP integrity allegations
The Greens aren’t the only party with questionable processes for dealing with integrity issues in their own ranks. Other parties also use techniques to close down public debate on sensitive allegations, rumours, and damaging scandals.
The reality is that there aren’t any set and accepted parliamentary procedures for dealing with MPs who need to be investigated by their own parties. Because we are now living in an age of heightened sensitivity about our politicians’ integrity, this will only become a bigger problem. MP scandals aren’t going away anytime soon.
This could be something that an Integrity Commission could help with - if one was ever established in New Zealand. Such an institution could help guide political parties with basic recommendations or best practice ideas for investigating allegations against MPs. Ultimately, it has to be up to the parties themselves to decide how to deal with integrity violations and scandals that tarnish politics. But this latest example of the Greens and Tana indicates that New Zealand politics desperately needs a better way to deal with serious scandals.
