Ex-Green MP Darleen Tana: What you need to know and what happens next?

Darleen Tana is no longer a Greens MP but is yet to state whether she’ll remain as an MP as her former party accuses her of lying and betrayal regarding her involvement in alleged migrant exploitation.

Tana, number 13 on the party’s list heading into last year’s election, says she doesn’t accept the findings of an independent investigation into the allegations and didn’t agree with how the Greens had characterised investigator Rachel Burt’s report.

However, the report hasn’t yet been released publicly, with Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick wanting to consult with people mentioned in the report, meaning Kiwis will have to wait before they can make up their own mind.

What allegations is Tana facing and how did we get here?

In mid-March, Tana was suspended from the party after reports from Stuff linked her with claims of migrant exploitation concerning her husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen’s bicycle company. Allegations from staffer Santiago Latour Palma, which included claims of thousands of dollars in missing pay, formed a complaint to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

Hoff-Nielsen denied all the exploitation allegations at the time and told the Herald: “This is not a news story, there is no news.”

The Greens first became aware of the allegations on February 1 when Tana informed the party’s co-leaders at the time, Marama Davidson and James Shaw, about a complaint laid against her husband’s e-bike business with the ERA. Tana once owned the business with her husband but she transferred full ownership of the business to him in 2019.

Media reports indicated Tana still had some role in her husband’s business, including in matters relating to staff pay.

Christian Hoff-Nielsen, husband of Darleen Tana, arrives at his e-bike shop in Newmarket, Auckland. Photo / Jason Oxenham

On February 9, the Greens discovered a second complaint had been laid with the ERA. This time, the party found out from another source, not Tana.

More than a month later when the allegations reached the public, Davidson and Swarbrick confirmed Tana’s suspension and the inception of an investigation, led by Burt. At the time, Tana welcomed the inquiry.

What does the report say and why did it take so long?

Tana decided to resign from the Green Party this weekend before her caucus members could kick her out after Burt’s report was received late on Friday.

Party MPs met over the weekend and decided Tana should no longer remain in the Greens, having heard from Tana herself, who addressed MPs over Zoom. Before the MPs could take action, Tana informed the party she was resigning.

The public is yet to see the report but Swarbrick, fronting press on Monday, said the report had shown Tana’s conduct had fallen short of the expectations placed on Green MPs.

Swarbrick said she felt she’d been lied to and “utterly betrayed” by Tana.

Tana, in a statement, claimed the report didn’t find migrant exploitation had occurred and argued her former party had already decided its view regardless of the report’s content.

It had taken 114 days, more than half of Tana’s parliamentary career, for Burt to report back.

Swarbrick hasn’t expanded on why the process took so long but both she and Davidson had previously indicated their shared frustration, given the public’s right to answers as Tana remained on her taxpayer-funded salary throughout her suspension.

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, with colleagues Teanau Tuiono and Ricardo Menendez March, speaking about Tana in Parliament on Monday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

What happens next?

Swarbrick said she wanted to contact people mentioned in the report before it was made publicly available.

It wasn’t clear whether the party had an estimated timeline for when the report would likely be released.

As for Tana, she could now continue as an independent MP or resign from Parliament altogether, which would lead to another Green, Benjamin Doyle, becoming the party’s latest MP.

Tana’s salary would not change as an independent MP. Her annual income rose from $168,000 to $172,000 in July and would rise to $177,000 the year after that.

Assuming the Parliament lasted for at least two more years, she could earn a total of $349,000 and would have access to MPs’ perks like air travel around the country on Parliamentary business.

Swarbrick had called on Tana to leave Parliament, claiming her presence would distract from the party’s objectives.

The Greens could also invoke the so-called waka-jumping legislation, which involved writing to the Speaker to argue Tana’s actions had altered the proportionality of Parliament and that she should be removed as an MP.

Traditionally, the Greens hadn’t favoured the legislation. It wasn’t used when former MP Elizabeth Kerekere split from the party and in 2020, Swarbrick spoke in the House amid a failed attempt to repeal it.

However, Swarbrick on Monday didn’t rule it out, saying whether to invoke the legislation hadn’t yet been discussed.

New Zealand First, which supported the legislation, has urged the Greens to use it through a petition that encouraged Green MPs to “swallow their pride” and “free Darleen from Parliament”.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.