PM Jacinda Ardern says embattled Labour Party MP Dr Gaurav Sharma has been suspended after a special caucus meeting. Video / Mark Mitchell
Labour MP Gaurav Sharma has been suspended from caucus effective immediately, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
It is the "most appropriate" response to "repeated breaches of trust" committed by the MP, Ardern said after a special party caucus meeting today.
Sharma, the Hamilton West MP, faced judgment from his colleagues this afternoon after making a string of public accusations that he was "bullied" and the party had refused to investigate his side of the story over staff issues.
He went public with allegations of "rampant" bullying within Parliament last week in a Herald column.
The "sense of trust" has been broken amongst caucus, Ardern said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arriving with her chief press secretary Andrew Campbell before announcing the suspension of Labour MP for Hamilton West Dr Gaurav Sharma. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Sharma would continue as MP for Hamilton West but not take part in caucus decisions unless invited.
Sharma, who did not attend today's caucus meeting, was phoned, texted and emailed to join but did not, Ardern said.
Today's press conference was delayed from 4pm to 4:30pm so Sharma could be contacted ahead of the decision.
Gaurav Sharma with Jacinda Ardern in 2020. Photo / Supplied
The door had been left open for Sharma to come back in as an active caucus member because he was part of a team, Ardern said.
When asked about a Labour Zoom meeting last night, which Sharma was not at, Ardern said it was not a "formal" meeting as not all members were there, adding the result was not "predetermined" as Sharma had claimed today.
"That would not be a fair process," Ardern said.
A small number of MPs were absent from the meeting last night, meaning it wasn't a full caucus meeting.
It was a forum for issues and concerns to be raised, Ardern said.
Asked about Sharma's allegations, Ardern said part of Labour's process was to have a meeting for Sharma to voice his concerns.
Asked whether he had gone rogue, Ardern said she couldn't say that given she hadn't spoken to him.
Gaurav Sharma made a string of public accusations that he was "bullied" and the party had refused to investigate his side of the story over staff issues. Photo / Supplied
It was of note to Ardern that there was only one person who was unable to make today's meeting.
She couldn't say whether Sharma was aware of the meeting taking place last night.
The reason that meeting was held was because Labour MPs didn't feel they had a safe space to share their thoughts with Sharma there.
Someone sent a screenshot of the planning of today's caucus meeting, which also had evidence of the late-night secret meeting, to Sharma, Ardern said.
She said she was "somewhat embarrassed" by the incident.
Ardern would not confirm who it was that sent Sharma a screenshot that accidentally included evidence of last night's meeting taking place, which alerted Sharma to its existence.
Ardern could give no information on the screenshots, published on social media by Sharma, that allegedly proved some MPs were sharing some of Sharma's concerns.
However, she said she had "doubt" the screenshots were shared by Sharma with the permission of those people who sent the messages originally.
Asked whether colleagues have been defamed by Sharma, Ardern again stated there was nothing to substantiate Sharma's allegations. Ardern was concerned unsubstantiated claims had been made, given the type of information that had been released.
Ardern said they considered releasing communication which had presumably taken place between Sharma and party officials to prove their position, but eventually decided it would risk compromising the anonymity of the people involved.
On Sharma's staff, given he will stay as an MP, Ardern said resolution had been found on Wednesday last week around these employment issues. The resolution concerns future hiring.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi has jumped to Sharma's defence, calling him "brave and courageous" in a social media video.
Appearing in a Facebook Live beside a sign of Sharma, Waititi spoke of his "mate ... Gaurav" and that the pair met in 2020 when they both entered Parliament.
"[Sharma] is an awesome [guy], huge integrity and I really just want to acknowledge he's being brave and courageous at this particular time because it's not easy to talk about issues like bullying."
Waititi claimed he and party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer had experienced bullying "from day one", saying it could have been intentional or unintentional.
He claimed this was because some members of Parliament didn't understand a "Māori approach to politics".
He finished the video by encouraging all whānau to speak up if they were being bullied.
"There's always ears out there to listen to you," Waititi said, offering his own in the same breath.
The issue
After high staff turnover and what the PM has said were multiple complaints from staff about his management, Labour's whips told Sharma he could not hire any further staff until he undertook training.
Sharma took exception and claimed that his own complaints about "incompetent" staff were not investigated, nor was his complaint to the Prime Minister's chief of staff that he was "bullied" by the party whips instead of being given a fair go.
He also claimed other MPs had complained about being bullied – although no other MP has yet come forward. Sharma aired his views first in an opinion piece on nzherald.co.nz, which made generalised comments about "rampant bullying" by MPs - and then in two Facebook posts which were more specific.
The rules
The party's constitution sets out grounds for disciplining party members and MPs.
It has a code of conduct which applies to all party members, including MPs.
Under that and the party rules, MPs can be disciplined for "bringing the party into disrepute".
That is a vague, catch-all but serious offence and the PM had pointed to it as the one caucus would be considering in Sharma's case.
The PM has said MPs will have their own views about Sharma's actions, but that the brunt of it is that MPs are supposed to deal with their problems through internal channels – rather than going public or to the media. Those channels included the whip's office, the Labour leader or someone she assigned to deal with it.
Sharma's counter to that is that he had gone to the whips and to the PM's chief of staff with his complaints, but was ignored and nothing happened. He had gone public as a last resort.
Earlier it was revealed Labour MPs had a secret Zoom meeting last night - without Dr Sharma.
The NZ Herald understands MPs met at 8pm, but Sharma says he was not told of the meeting.
He found out about it after a message - including a photo of Kelvin Davis on the Zoom call - was sent to him by mistake.
"Apparently caucus had a full meeting at 8pm yesterday with all members except me and the decision was predetermined," Sharma said in a text message sent to NZME.
The Herald has confirmed last night's meeting from other sources.
The meeting was organised by a Signal group and the whips started to organise it on Monday morning to get a suitable time - before Sharma had put up a further Facebook post on Monday afternoon.
Ardern did not mention any plans for a meeting set for last night.
MP for Hamilton West Dr Gaurav Sharma (back row, centre) seen here with his Labour colleagues on the steps of Parliament in 2020. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Sharma today told the Herald he was unsure whether he would make today's afternoon meeting, given he had other engagements.
However, he expressed his desire to have a "fair trial".
Sharma told the Herald that if he was expelled from the party, he might stay on as an independent MP.
"I'll try my best to make it [the meeting] but as I said, I'm just trying to squeeze everything in."
Sharma said he had been given "very short notice" of the meeting, claiming he was told by current senior whip Duncan Webb between 5-6pm yesterday that the meeting would be held today.
He understood there was only "one point on the agenda" - Sharma's allegations and how they were discussed publicly.
