Statement by Hone Harawira, MP for Te Tai Tokerau:
WAITANGI: I am hugely disappointed in the decision to suspend me from the Māori Party caucus.
The decision shows a huge disrespect for the Kaupapa on which our party was founded, for the people of Tai Tokerau who have given their all for the Māori Party, and for the efforts that kaumatua and kuia of Tai Tokerau and Waiariki have been engaging in to try to settle this matter according to Kaupapa Māori.
The decision also shows a complete disregard for the complaint process that the co-leaders were party to, and coming two days out from the disciplinary committee meeting set down to hear the complaint, is also a clumsy and heavy-handed attempt to influence the outcome.
And yet, for all the contradictions, the decision is also consistent with a Pakeha political process which forced Tariana Turia to leave the Labour Party; a process we had decided would never, ever be used in our own party.
The decision is also clearly aimed at silencing the only voice within the party that has offered any genuine and constructive criticism of the Māori Party's relationship with the National government during a time when food, power and petrol price rises, coupled with an increase in GST, are devastating Māori communities the length and breadth of Aotearoa.
I can assure everyone, that as long as Maori suffer the economic and social disparities that we do, I will continue to raise those issues both inside and outside of the party.
And I can also assure everyone that, on behalf of my constituents, I will be attending Parliament tomorrow. I will answer all further questions at that time.
Hone Harawira
Maori Party MP
Tai Tokerau
Pacific Media Watch
