The former Green MP, who currently sits as an independent, had her future decided by party delegates in a late night “Special General Meeting” Zoom call on Thursday.
In a statement, Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the party had endorsed the “potential use of the Electoral Act to remove Darleen Tana as a Member of Parliament”.
However, she repeated a call to Tana to “finally do the right thing” and resign before the Act needed to be deployed.
In order to trigger the legislation, the Greens need to write to the Speaker saying they believe Tana’s defection from the Greens has distorted the proportionality of Parliament. Swarbrick did this shortly after the meeting concluded.
“We have... written to the Speaker outlining that we believe Darleen’s resignation from the party but not from Parliament has affected the proportionality of the House, triggering the next step of the legislation,” Swarbrick said.
Swarbrick said she and her fellow co-leader Marama Davidson have also written to Tana to inform her of the vote.
“From the outset, we have done all we can to navigate the situation in front of us with our values as the guiding star. I am proud of how we have held true to these throughout this process,” Swarbrick said.
One of the most powerful speeches in the meeting was given by former co-leader Metiria Turei who discussed the party’s long opposition to waka jumping.
However, Turei said that there were times when an MP needed to be removed based on their behaviour - and not because they had fallen out with the party on a matter of political principle - and that this was one of those times.
The decision draws to a close months of wrangling that began in March when allegations emerged that Tana was aware of allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband’s business.
Tana quit the party after an investigation found the allegations had merit, but has so far managed to stay on as an MP. Swarbrick and the wider party caucus have called on Tana to resign since July, but to no avail.
Members decided Tana’s fate by discussing the matter in their branches up and down the country. Those branches then elected delegates who carried the will of each branch to the Special General Meeting on Thursday night. After a short discussion, it was clear that most Greens supported the use of the law to oust Tana.
The decision appears not to have been particularly divisive. The meeting took some time to get underway as everyone was admitted to the Zoom call. A Zoom poll early on in the call suggested that a “consensus” to eject Tana would easily be reached.
From that point, all that was left was for some members to raise objections before the final, formal “consensus” was reached.
Were Tana to be removed as an MP, the Greens would benefit from a funding boost, which is calculated based on the side of each party’s representation.
Thomas Coughlan is deputy political editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the Press Gallery since 2018.