Darleen Tana resigned from the Green Party last week. Photo: Green Party NZ
Ousted Green MP Darleen Tana says she was isolated and silenced by her party - and that she is still considering whether to stay on as an independent MP.
Tana resigned from the Green Party last week and the party has made it clear it wants her to leave Parliament altogether.
Tana has told 1 News she disagreed with the findings from an investigation by barrister Rachel Burt into what she knew about allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband's business, and whether she was up-front with the Greens.
She insisted she was up-front with the co-leaders, who asked her to resign before she had a chance to respond to the report.
The investigation found that Tana 'likely' knew about allegations of worker exploitation at her husband's business and did not disclose them to the Green Party.
In a statement, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said they would not have had to instigate an investigation if Tana had been honest with her and co-leader Marama Davidson.
"Darleen agreed to this investigation after initially denying any wrongdoing. The independent, expert investigation lays bare that Darleen has committed a serious betrayal of the behaviour we expect of any Member of Parliament, as well as our principles and trust.
"Our caucus, including our Te Mātāwaka MPs, did not take lightly the process followed to unanimously request her resignation."
Swarbrick said the party would "continue to be focused on minimising the harm and collateral damage".
"It is in the best interests of everyone that Darleen Tana takes responsibility here and resigns from Parliament," Swarbrick said.
Earlier today, Green Party musterer Ricardo Menéndez March said in a statement that the party was still working through privacy considerations for the release of the investigation's executive summary.
"Today, we have once again written formally to Darleen asking for her response to Caucus' unanimous request for her resignation," he said.
