The Greens are picking up the pieces of another public scandal, after Darleen Tana stepped down.
Tana has resigned after a report was delivered discussing claims of migrant exploitation at her husband's business.
ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper has labelled this 'disgraceful'.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Senior political correspondent Barry Soper joins me.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Now, good afternoon, Hello Francesca, how are you very good?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thank you, nice to see you. The Darlene Tana saga
really has been the news of the day, hasn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It most certainly has. And Chloe Swarbrick she's the only
leader of the Greens on deck at the moment because
Madame and Davidson is taking time off for breast cancer
and we'll be away for most of the years. So
Chloe Swarbrick is now really feeling what the heat is
like if you're leading alone a political party, which is
(00:33):
what she's been doing today. It's an interesting one this
because you know, MPs have stayed on before as independents,
and there was a walker jumping piece of legislation in
the early two thousands that had a sunset clause and
(00:54):
it went off the statute books, but they brought another
one back in in twenty and eighteen. It's quite specific.
They have to essentially, an MP has to send a
notice to the speaker saying that they either quit the
party or they wanted to remain on as an independent
or a member of another party. So they can still
(01:15):
do that, but there's no other party of course that's
going to touch Darling Tana at the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Has the Speaker heard from Darling yet, well, I haven't.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Been able to contact the Speaker. I think he maybe overseas,
so you know, it's the form is the They're in
recess at the moment, so I don't think anything immediate
is going to happen. But you know, I think the
Greens are not covered in glory for this because when
they hired the solicitor to do the inquiry at the
(01:47):
beginning in mid March, they said, you know, it'll be
a short inquiry, it won't take long, and now we
see one hundred and fifteen days Darling Tana has in
fact been in Parliament and for basically being paid for
more than half the time that she's been there without
(02:07):
being at work, which is pretty disgraceful and means that
she's earned over fifty thousand dollars the cost of the
report that the Greens have come up with. That's taxpayer
money as well. Even though it's out of the Greens budget,
it's still taxpayers money. So it's not a good saga
for the Greens. Don't forget Elizabeth Kerry Carey. Yes, she
(02:31):
defected from the Greens as well. She stayed on in
Parliament as an independent MP and the lead up to
the last election, but because it was so close, I
think there was no feeling that, you know, there was
any point in doing anything about it then. But of
course we've still got now almost two and a half
years to the next election. So I think of Darlie
(02:51):
and Tana. I'm sure she knows this. If she hung
on there, she'd be hanging around like a bad smell.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
What do you think you're doing?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, if she's got an honor, she would resign and
get out of the place and make way for the
proportionality for the Greens to be maintained in Parliament and
that would mean that they would bring the next person
through on the list and that's what should happen. But
you know, who knows what this woman is thinking about
(03:19):
at the moment.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
The Prime Minister leaves for Washington, d C. Tonight for
the NATO summit hopefully.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, well he's meant to be going via Houston. When
you think about it, he used to run an airline,
get him. Yeah, that's right, but it is difficult. But
it's look it's an important meeting for New Zealand. We're
not a member of NATO, of course, but there are
some big names that will be there this year, like
(03:47):
France isn't a member of NATO either, but Emanuel macrong
is likely to be there because he's done quite a
lot of work in the lead up to this summit.
And you'll see Justin Trudeau will be there most likely,
well almost certainly he'll be there as well, So there
will be some people that Luxon would like to get alongside,
(04:08):
not the least a secure starmer. I think he will
most almost certainly be in Washington, and you know it'll
be an opportunity for New Zealand to get alongside the
British Bime minister.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Does he have any official meetings with them or is
it just going to be pull sides.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
He's got a number of bilaterals lined up, but mainly
I think they're in Congress, and you know, he'll no
doubt get a pretty good feed on Joe Biden and
Donald Trump and where all that's at. Although I think
the world is pretty knowledgeable about where it should be at,
but whether it ends up that way or not is
(04:47):
another matter. I mean, Joe Biden clearly is not up
to running for president. And we had news over the
weekend that a Parkinson's doctor or specialist has been to
the White House on several occasions in recent months. And
you've only got to look at the way he walks. Franchiska.
I've had friends who have unfortunately suffered from Parkinson's and
(05:10):
they walk with their hands at their side, which is
a balance, and I think it's the telltale signs are
pretty masked.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So Dr Barry Soper nan diagnosis. Okay, Well there we go,
poor Joe. It will be looked really really quickly. In
thirty seconds. Martin names for government departments. There's some confusion,
a bit of back and forth going on.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Well, it's all over the place actually, and you know
it was part of the New Zealand First National Party
coalition deal that New Zealand has said that they should
be done away with. And don't forget it was the
government departments themselves that decided without any consultation with the public.
I think this is an issue that should be debated
more widely, rather than ministers saying to their departments, you
(05:51):
make up your own minds. And apparently that is the
case and some with foreign affairs, Winston saying Arah is
not to be used under any circumstances, whereas Conservation says
it's up to you do what you like. So they've
got to have a statement and a policy that really
does control this.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Barry soper A.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Pleasure is always nice to talk to your friendships again.
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Senior political correspondent Barry Soper joins me.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Now, good afternoon, Hello Francesca, how are you very good?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Thank you, nice to see you. The Darlene Tana saga
really has been the news of the day, hasn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
It most certainly has. And Chloe Swarbrick she's the only
leader of the Greens on deck at the moment because
Madame and Davidson is taking time off for breast cancer
and we'll be away for most of the years. So
Chloe Swarbrick is now really feeling what the heat is
like if you're leading alone a political party, which is
(00:33):
what she's been doing today. It's an interesting one this
because you know, MPs have stayed on before as independents,
and there was a walker jumping piece of legislation in
the early two thousands that had a sunset clause and
(00:54):
it went off the statute books, but they brought another
one back in in twenty and eighteen. It's quite specific.
They have to essentially, an MP has to send a
notice to the speaker saying that they either quit the
party or they wanted to remain on as an independent
or a member of another party. So they can still
(01:15):
do that, but there's no other party of course that's
going to touch Darling Tana at the moment.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Has the Speaker heard from Darling yet, well, I haven't.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Been able to contact the Speaker. I think he maybe overseas,
so you know, it's the form is the They're in
recess at the moment, so I don't think anything immediate
is going to happen. But you know, I think the
Greens are not covered in glory for this because when
they hired the solicitor to do the inquiry at the
(01:47):
beginning in mid March, they said, you know, it'll be
a short inquiry, it won't take long, and now we
see one hundred and fifteen days Darling Tana has in
fact been in Parliament and for basically being paid for
more than half the time that she's been there without
(02:07):
being at work, which is pretty disgraceful and means that
she's earned over fifty thousand dollars the cost of the
report that the Greens have come up with. That's taxpayer
money as well. Even though it's out of the Greens budget,
it's still taxpayers money. So it's not a good saga
for the Greens. Don't forget Elizabeth Kerry Carey. Yes, she
(02:31):
defected from the Greens as well. She stayed on in
Parliament as an independent MP and the lead up to
the last election, but because it was so close, I
think there was no feeling that, you know, there was
any point in doing anything about it then. But of
course we've still got now almost two and a half
years to the next election. So I think of Darlie
(02:51):
and Tana. I'm sure she knows this. If she hung
on there, she'd be hanging around like a bad smell.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
What do you think you're doing?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, if she's got an honor, she would resign and
get out of the place and make way for the
proportionality for the Greens to be maintained in Parliament and
that would mean that they would bring the next person
through on the list and that's what should happen. But
you know, who knows what this woman is thinking about
(03:19):
at the moment.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
The Prime Minister leaves for Washington, d C. Tonight for
the NATO summit hopefully.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, well he's meant to be going via Houston. When
you think about it, he used to run an airline,
get him. Yeah, that's right, but it is difficult. But
it's look it's an important meeting for New Zealand. We're
not a member of NATO, of course, but there are
some big names that will be there this year, like
(03:47):
France isn't a member of NATO either, but Emanuel macrong
is likely to be there because he's done quite a
lot of work in the lead up to this summit.
And you'll see Justin Trudeau will be there most likely,
well almost certainly he'll be there as well, So there
will be some people that Luxon would like to get alongside,
(04:08):
not the least a secure starmer. I think he will
most almost certainly be in Washington, and you know it'll
be an opportunity for New Zealand to get alongside the
British Bime minister.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Does he have any official meetings with them or is
it just going to be pull sides.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
He's got a number of bilaterals lined up, but mainly
I think they're in Congress, and you know, he'll no
doubt get a pretty good feed on Joe Biden and
Donald Trump and where all that's at. Although I think
the world is pretty knowledgeable about where it should be at,
but whether it ends up that way or not is
(04:47):
another matter. I mean, Joe Biden clearly is not up
to running for president. And we had news over the
weekend that a Parkinson's doctor or specialist has been to
the White House on several occasions in recent months. And
you've only got to look at the way he walks. Franchiska.
I've had friends who have unfortunately suffered from Parkinson's and
(05:10):
they walk with their hands at their side, which is
a balance, and I think it's the telltale signs are
pretty masked.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So Dr Barry Soper nan diagnosis. Okay, Well there we go,
poor Joe. It will be looked really really quickly. In
thirty seconds. Martin names for government departments. There's some confusion,
a bit of back and forth going on.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Well, it's all over the place actually, and you know
it was part of the New Zealand First National Party
coalition deal that New Zealand has said that they should
be done away with. And don't forget it was the
government departments themselves that decided without any consultation with the public.
I think this is an issue that should be debated
more widely, rather than ministers saying to their departments, you
(05:51):
make up your own minds. And apparently that is the
case and some with foreign affairs, Winston saying Arah is
not to be used under any circumstances, whereas Conservation says
it's up to you do what you like. So they've
got to have a statement and a policy that really
does control this.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Barry soper A.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Pleasure is always nice to talk to your friendships again.
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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