Another Harawira outburst revealed

Another offensive email from Hone Harawira has been revealed and this one, littered with expletives, caused a commotion in Te Puni Kokiri.

Upset about changes that had been made to a brochure he designed about Maori flags, the Maori Party MP let six TPK officials know of his displeasure in no uncertain terms.

"I'm bloody disappointed that I put so much effort into it, only to find out that everything has been changed at the last minute and without my approval," he said in the July 10 email.

"I am particularly f. . ..n' pissed off that some clown has decided to rebrand the `Maori' flag as the `Tino Rangatiratanga' flag."

Mr Harawira demanded that the brochure be stopped pending a conference call to sort things out.

"Otherwise I will publicly expose this as a sham on Monday morning. . .no shit folks, either this gets sorted out, and quickly, or I go apeshit on Monday."

The full text of the email is in hundreds of pages of documents released to NZPA under the Official Information Act covering the consultation process to decide with Maori flag to fly on Waitangi Day.

The email raised complaints among TPK staff and then came to the attention of Helen Leahy, a senior official in the Maori Party's parliamentary office.

She emailed party co-leader and Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples.

"The six TPK staff should not be expected to receive emails littered with swear words and ultimatums," she said, and attached a copy of Mr Harawira's email after she had altered the expletives so it would get through Parliament's filter.

There is no record of Dr Sharples having done anything about it, but Mr Harawira subsequently apologised to the officials during a conference call.

And, when the consultation process was over, he sent a message to everyone involved: "Congratulations to everyone for a job well done, and thanks for not freakin' out when I nut out. Let's do it again sometime soon."

After Mr Harawira sent the email about the brochure, he was in trouble for skipping off to Paris while on a parliamentary visit to Europe.

In defence of his unauthorised trip, he sent an email referring to "white motherf. . ..rs" which caused a national outrage.

Party leaders at first asked him to leave and become an independent, but they relented when Mr Harawira's Te Tai Tokerau electorate said he should stay.

He was told to take leave until Parliament resumes next year.

The documents released today show the brochure issue was sorted out, and there was a robust consultation process around deciding which Maori flag should be flown.

It ended with advice to Prime Minister John Key that more than 80 per cent of those consulted had chosen the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, which will be flown on Auckland Harbour Bridge, Parliament, Premier House and on government buildings on Waitangi Day.

A series of 21 hui were held between July and August and the documents show the total cost was $91,625.

- NZPA