Editorial: Party shows it has some teeth

OPINION: When the Maori Party last week called the inevitable hui to discuss the antics of MP Hone Harawira, it was a fair bet that most New Zealanders were expecting the event to result in the equivalent of a slap over the wrist with a wet bus ticket.

Mr Harawira was in trouble after it emerged he had bunked off from his official duties on an overseas trip to go to Paris for the day with his wife. He had form on this front, having gone offroad during a trip to Australia in 2007 while on official business, and it was a clear abuse of his position as an MP. He followed it up with a searing and blatantly racist email to a critic, Maori Party member Buddy Mikaere.

Support for Mr Harawira had poured in from all over Maoridom ahead of last week's hui, leading to the expectation that little would be done to punish the renegade MP. But contrary to expectations, he got his comeuppance at the hui. Party president Whatarangi Winiata has told him that if he wants to act like an independent MP, he should be one.

The Maori Party has hinted that there is much more to the problems than just the Paris and racist email episodes, and it is fed up. Mr Harawira has two weeks to decide whether he will stick with the party. It is clearly an ultimatum – either he becomes a party man or he goes it alone.

The tough stance the Maori Party has taken has proven the organisation has real spine.

Threatening to expel renegade MPs is easy for big parties in a first past the post system. When your party has only five MPs, expelling your most high profile member has big implications. Politically, it is a big call to make.

Mr Harawira seemed genuinely surprised by his party's response to his antics, and described becoming an independent MP as the "silliest idea" he had ever heard. He may as well be an independent MP. He does not toe the party line and constantly makes it clear that his loyalties to his Te Tai Tokerau electorate outweigh all else in politics.

How it is in the voters of Te Tai Tokerau's interests to have an MP take a romantic trip to Paris on the taxpayer is debatable. Likewise, it is difficult to see how those interests are furthered by his description of white New Zealanders as "white motherf......."

Mr Harawira faces a tough choice. If he opts to stay with the party it will involve a considerable loss of face. If he is serious about politics and making a positive contribution he will swallow his pride and opt to stick with the party.

If he does not he is likely to continue as an MP, but it will be a lonely and politically impotent existence. Whatever he decides he can be crystal clear that his partners in the Maori Party are not to be messed with.

- © Fairfax NZ News