No place for independent Harawira in Govt

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Maori Party MP Hone Harawira is taking some time away from the media spotlight after his party suggested he walk away and become an independent MP.

Mr Harawira spoke briefly to NZPA this afternoon and said he would be making no comments about recent moves that edged him towards possible expulsion from the Maori Party.

NZPA understands that Mr Harawira is taking some time away from the news media and the public as he ponders recent events.

He was due back in Wellington on Tuesday when Parliament resumes after a three-week recess.

Speaking to reporters in Singapore, ahead of the Apec leaders' summit starting tomorrow, Prime Minister John Key says there will be no place in his Government for firebrand Mr Harawira if he decides to go independent.

Mr Key said it was for the Maori party leaders and hierarchy to decide if an MP fitted the values and principles of the party.

"It's up to them to decide whether they can rehabilitate him or not. If they can't, well that's their view."

But he would not see a role for Mr Harawira in government if he quit the party.

"No. We are not making those moves."

Mr Harawira would likely see himself as someone who spoke on issues as he liked and would not necessarily be aligned with the opposition.

But Mr Key said he was not concerned about the loss of one vote, because with ACT he already had the numbers to form a Government.

He believed the deal struck between National and the Maori Party after the 2008 election was seen by the public as a positive step in improving race relations.

The Maori Party leadership had told him they would be concerned if Mr Harawira's comments had damaged that momentum.

Maori Party bosses decided several days ago to ask Mr Harawira to leave, co-leader Tariana Turia revealed today.

Mrs Turia and co-leader Pita Sharples front-footed the issue by calling a press conference on Mr Harawira after he was asked yesterday to spend the next two weeks considering his future.

The co-leaders have revealed that an inflammatory email sent by Mr Harawira to a supporter over his decision to visit Paris during a taxpayer funded trip to Brussels was only one of a number of factors in the party's decision to ask him to quit.

But Mrs Turia today declined to spell out what other issues had contributed to the decision, saying she did not want to "relitigate all the things" that had happened. The party was more concerned about progressing issues including the Emissions Trading Scheme, the Foreshore and Seabed Act repeal and Maori health service programme whanau ora.

"We're moving on. We've got a huge programme ahead of us....and those are our priorities."

But she made it clear that rehabilitation looked like an unlikely prospect.

"I don't think Hone is likely to change.

Dr Sharples admitted that relations with Mr Harawira had been difficult. The MP's actions, meanwhile, had sparked a backlash, after he justified the Paris jaunt as a response to white colonialism in his expletive-filled email.

 "We're having difficulty controlling him, let's be straight up about that. Tariana has had 600 emails as a response to the email Hone sent. I've had hundreds as well. Quite clearly there is concern in New Zealand about his behaviour.

In a sometimes testy exchange with specialty Maori broadcasters, Mrs Turia and Dr Sharples defended the party's actions and denied suggestions they were buckling to Pakeha pressure or breaching the party's constitution.

Dr Sharples signalled that the issue was serious enough to put the Maori Party's future on the line.

"We've got to follow procedures and be responsible and have a reputation for consistency and if we don't do that nobody will want to deal with us at all and that's what we are trying to put back into place."

Asked when the decision had been made to ask Mr Harawira to quit, Mrs Turia said she understood it had been a few days ago.

Te Tai Tokerau electorate committee chairman Rahuia Kapa told Radio New Zealand today the call for Hone's resignation was "an absolute shock for our people".

She said the decision had come out of the blue and had gone against the Maori Party constitution. Due process was being ignored.

Ms Kapa said she was "adamant and determined to make this Maori Party work".

"We are going to continue to stand on the principles within the constitution."

She said there was to be a series of meetings where they would discuss the proposal for Hone to stand as an independent MP.

She said she did not know if she would follow Hone if he was to become an independent.

"My loyalty firstly is to Maori Party and Mr Harawira just happens to be the best man for the job."

Prime Minister John Key said the Maori Party was showing leadership by its strong stand against Mr Harawira.

Speaking from Singapore where is attending the Apec leaders summit, Mr Key said Mr Harawira's recent outbursts were "divisive and racist and don't reflect the right methods and philosopy" the Maori Party wanted as a political party.

"The comments made by Hone Harawira do not reflect the sentiments nor the comments I hear from the leadership of the Maori party and they are offended by them in the same way a lot of New Zealanders are."

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the Maori Party should have fired Mr Harawira.

He said the Prime Minister should also have acted more firmly, particularly when so many New Zealanders were offended by the comments. "How can he be relaxed about it, it's disgraceful," he told Radio New Zealand.

"His behaviour has been weak in the extreme," he said.

Mr Harawira had displayed these tendencies for years and it had no place in Parliament, Mr Peters said.

"I think that the Maori Party has got serious trouble in the first place in ever choosing Hone who showed no desire to be a team player."

He told Radio New Zealand thay Ms Kapa did not appear to understand how "blatantly bad" an example this set for race relations between Maori and non-Maori.

In a sign of the seriousness of Mr Harawira's position, the hui was attended by party co-leader Pita Sharples, who had initially said he was too busy to travel north. Mrs Turia did not attend.

The ultimatum risks a damaging split as Mr Harawira is said to have huge personal support in Te Tai Tokerau. He also has wide appeal among the more radical elements of the party.

He indicated he would try to comply, saying the suggestion he should quit was the "silliest idea I have ever heard".

"I will be making the best of those two weeks [and] when I come back to Parliament it will be all guns blazing."

But the rift may now be too wide to close, and NZ First leader Winston Peters threw petrol on the fire yesterday by tying Mr Harawira's behaviour to the looming repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

Mr Peters told Wanganui Grey Power the Maori Party was racially divisive, and its policies could make New Zealand the "Zimbabwe of the South Pacific".

He said National's agreement to repeal the foreshore and seabed law would reopen a "festering racial sore that will infect the whole country".

Mrs Turia denied the speech had contributed to a tougher line than expected against Mr Harawira.

"I think that people have underestimated the Maori Party. The Maori Party holds fast to their kaupapa and tikanga, and I'm really proud to say that the majority of the time, those things are upheld."

- By MICHAEL FOX,  MICHAEL FIELD with MARTIN KAY, TRACY WATKINS, VERNON SMALL Dominion Post, and NZPA