Chloe Swarbrick: Green Party Co-leader on senior Pasifika network leaders walking out

Green Party leadership has written to Darleen Tana, giving her 21 days to respond to calls to resign. 

Senior leaders from the Green’s Pacific Network walked away from the party following the letter – seen as a step towards invoking waka-jumping provisions. 

The party has scheduled a special meeting for September 1, when delegates will vote on whether or not to invoke the party-hopping act. 

Co-leader Chloe Swarbrick tells Mike Hosking the party is proud to work through differing internal perspectives. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the Green's got together over the weekend to sort
the Darling Tanna shambles and ended up not sorting the
Darling Tanna shambles. The Leadership's written to miss Tanna and
given a twenty one day has to resign. Go leader
Chloe swarbricks with us, good morning to you, very well,
thank you to deal with the Pacific thing. Have you
got some senior members walking out? And if they did,
how many and why.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
So? As you may have seen in the reporting, there
were three members. And look, as far as I'm concerned,
no one is beyond approach. So when somebody makes accusations
like this, I want to take time to sit with them. Obviously,
it's a pretty charged atmosphere and people have come from
a place of upset. And when people feel hurt, I
tend to take the view that we should take that seriously.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
And what have they heard about?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
They feel hurt about their views and their perspective on
how things have been handled. Once again, you know, as
particularly I've said throughout this time, when some have made
accusations or upheld there or said their views with regard
to how things have been dealt with regard to Darlene Tanna,
I've been really clear that obviously I am the Parkier
in the room, and the honorable Martam and Davidson is

(01:07):
literally on cancer leave, but she has been really actively
involved through this process. So we'll take time today. There's that,
and we'll work through it and look to the point
that I'd make here, Mike, democracy can be messy. It
means that people have different opinions, and the Greens are
actually really proud of holding space for those different opinions
so that we can work through those different perspectives to

(01:28):
come to more enduring, stronger and sustainable decisions.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Is it a bit more messy given it to the
Greens than anyone else would deal with it?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, I mean you might think, but I second that
this is this growing pains. This is actually part of
the call to action that I put out to the
party membership and my speech on Saturday. Right, Look, we
have a long, proud history in the last thirty years
of campaigning for ecological and economic justice. But all of
that stuff means nothing if we cannot put it into practice.

(01:58):
If we are left clinging to our terms of evidence,
feeling and knowing that we were right. When the last
three is cut down that's why I've said to the
Greens that it is our job to actually reach out
to communities and to gain the trust of the people
who we believe the lives will bestibly improved by our policies,
because I genuinely believe that most New Zealanders to actually
care for each other in the planet that we live on.

(02:19):
But obviously we've got looks to do.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
What's your vibe on the numbers when because she's not resigning,
So in twenty one days when you have you another monking,
do you have the numbers to enact the walker jumping
or not?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
So just I think it's really important to care things up,
especially with the way that you frame things about that
letter for myself and mardamnuss. So there are two separate
processes that are happening at the same time. In order
to use the electoral integrity colloquially known as the party
hopping or waker dumping legislation, you actually do need to
under the legislation right to the member of Parliament that

(02:50):
you believe is distorting probortionality and provide them with twenty
one working days to respond. So that's twenty one working
days obviously weekends not included in that. That is a
pretty on part time frame for what we've called and
given the notice for our special genuine meeting for our members.
So we will be and our members will be going

(03:10):
out and talking to their branches and networks and provinces
in that time, but they will also have hopefully that
response from Darling Tana to consider well and the evidence
at that est.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
See she's not responding having said that, So you don't
have a vibe. I mean, I'm not holding you too.
I'm just saying, did you get a sense that it
will be enacted?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Or people are pretty frustrated? Mich People are pretty frustrated.
But as I think I've discussed with you in the
past on the show and with many reporters and commentators,
this is obviously something that we have a webs history
with and we've got to reconcile that. And I think
that's the point of why we're in the Greens and
the Greens we do like to talk through issues and
we like to genuinely consider each other's opinions. That's the

(03:48):
point of democracy. We very loudly and proudly uphold that
into an democracy, it's not just empty words.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
More importantly for me, given you didn't release the whole
report and there's other investigations going on, what's your view
of Darling Tana. Did she abuse migrants?

Speaker 2 (04:05):
So being really clear, as has Martemer and our caucus
unanimously that we do not believe that she is fit
to be a member of Parliament and what Mike has revorced.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
It's a migrant abuser.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
I don't think that it is helpful for me to
weigh in in such a way which could potentially open
legal cases or otherwise. The point of that report was
to ascertain what Darling Tana knew and when, and obviously
the subject of those allegations were those which include the
likes of migrant exploitation. And as I made the point
in my media stand up yesterday, we've also heard from

(04:37):
some of those workers who want me to make the
point really clearly in the public domain that one of
them is still owed at least thirty six thousand dollars
from an ar case that has been concluded, which has
not been paid back. So I want to send to
the real victims here, and we've never been confronted with
a situation like this, So we are working through a
process to make sure that we upot hold our values

(04:59):
and have a sustain doable and enduring conclusion and solution
which we can rightfully defend because we know that natural
justice was upheld all right.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Appreciate you time very much, Chobe Sawbrick, the co leader
of the Green Party. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast,
listen live to News Talks at B from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.