Is it migrant exploitation, systemic racism or a bit of both?

Two things can be true at once. The love of your life can be your favourite person in the world and also occasionally cruel. An incredible parent can be a horrible partner at the exact same time. And brown people can be systemically disadvantaged in politics while also deserving of scrutiny and consequences for their actions. 

When it comes to MPs of colour being investigated (and boy have we had our fair share of those lately), it can be hard to hold the many truths at once. Investigations into the behaviour of MPs of colour inevitably lead to an uptick in racist rhetoric from New Zealanders. It also inevitably leads to an uptick in allegations of racism against political parties. In every instance, the messy reality lies somewhere in the middle.

Here are the many truths within the Darleen Tana saga, each trying their best to cancel out the others.

Truth #1: After allegations of migrant exploitation arose from employees at the business owned and run by the husband of first-term Green MP Darleen Tana, the party launched an investigation into the extent of Tana’s knowledge and/or involvement in the alleged exploitation. 

Truth #2: The report found Tana knew about the behaviour (at best) and was actively involved in the business and therefore the alleged exploitative actions (at worst).

Truth #3: On Sunday, at the same Greens AGM where members discussed giving Tana one more chance to resign from parliament before voting on whether to trigger the party-hopping law, leaders of the roopu Pasifika read out an open letter announcing their own resignations as members of the Green Party. The letter outlined a number of grievances, the first and most pertinent being the treatment of Pacific members by the party following the death of MP Efeso Collins.

Truth #4: Palagi people, and particularly Palagi politicians, are often ignorant of any number of cultural expectations around grief and community. There’s no reason to assume this didn’t play out in the shock and frenzy of Collins’ funeral.

Truth #5: The letter also included grievances about the general treatment of Māori and Pacific MPs in the Greens caucus, naming former MP Elizabeth Kerekere as well as Darleen Tana as victims of such treatment.

Truth #6: Elizabeth Kerekere had a number of bullying allegations levelled against her by Greens staff members, as well as a leaked screenshot of, let’s say, unhelpful communications. In the end, she resigned from the Green Party in 2023 but stayed on as an independent MP for the remainder of the parliamentary term.

Truth #7: Outside of parliament, Kerekere is a respected and revered leader in the rainbow and takatāpui community. 

Truth #8: One of the co-conveners who signed the roopu Pasifika letter of resignation is married to Kerekere.

Truth #9: Between the Kerekere investigation and the Tana investigation, Julie Anne Genter was referred to the privileges committee for intimidating behaviour in the house, after which two allegations of inappropriate behaviour relating to altercations with business owners emerged. Genter apologised.

Truth #10: No investigation was launched into Genter’s behaviour, though the Greens initiated a “disciplinary process” and said she would receive “de-escalation training”.

Truth #11: Tana is the third brown female MP to resign from the Green Party in the past 18 months. Three suggests a trend.

Truth #12: Brown women face more social pressures and considerations in parliament than many of their colleagues. 

Truth #13: Golriz Ghahraman resigned after breaking the law and has now been convicted. Tana was proven to have been aware of and potentially involved in migrant exploitation. These are universal fireable offences. 

Truth #14: Now an independent MP, Tana has shown no intention of leaving parliament and last week announced that they use they/them pronouns.

Truth #15: A person’s pronouns are their own and should be respected.

Truth #16: Tana’s reasoning for the public pronoun change was “because I never walk alone”. That is not what they/them pronouns mean and calls into question the timing and motivation behind the statement.

Truth #17: The Greens will now do what the Greens do, which is to conduct a very long decision-making process over whether or not the party should invoke the waka-jumping law and force Tana out of parliament.

Truth #18: The process is (already) long and therefore costs a lot of money.

Truth #19: If the Greens do choose to trigger the law, it will be fodder for their opposition, since the party has been vocally against the waka-jumping bill (but did reluctantly vote for it to pass into law in 2018).

Truth #20: If they don’t, Tana will remain an independent MP until the next election, collecting an MP’s salary for having won a grand total of 2,925 votes in the electorate they stood in at the 2023 election and making it into parliament on the Greens list (of which they’re no longer a part).

Truth #21: It is very hard to ignore the trend playing out within the Greens, and whether it’s the fault of recruiting or its charter or simply the worst possible luck, it’ll continue without intervention.

All of these things are true at once. The Green Party’s cultural ignorance following the death of Efeso Collins is worthy of reflection and adjustment. But as a separate exercise from its ongoing process around Tana’s tenure as an independent MP.

Tana was not involved in dodgy business behaviour because of racism nor because of ill treatment from the Green Party co-leaders. At the same time, Tana’s past behaviour outside of parliament doesn’t justify any behaviour within the party as far as due process goes and the disciplining of Māori and Pacific MPs compared to Palagi MPs.

Pointing out either behaviour should neither excuse nor justify the other.