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Download AudioTe Pāti Māori is showing awhi toward former Green MP Darleen Tana who came back to parliament this week as an independent.
Ms Tana was suspended while the Greens waited for an investigation into whether she had been frank about what she knew about allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband’s e-bike business.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer says she sat with them during the debate on the bill reinstating referendums for Maori wards on local councils.
“We’re Maori first, we’re whanau first so we have spoken with Darleen and the same way as we did with Elizabeth (Kerekere) we will extend our whanaungatanga so Darleen was sitting in row two of Te Pati Maori last night at our matarau and our whanau’s invite. That’s how we will manaaki and continue to stay connected. She’s another sister from Taitokerau who stood by her man,” she says.
Ms Ngarewa-Packer says any invitation for Darleen Tana to join the party would have to come from president John Tamihere.
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