Speaker of the House Adrian Rurawhe (file photo). Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Parliament's Speaker says he cannot release his correspondence with Meka Whaitiri, but she can if she wishes.
The Labour Party has also confirmed Whaitiri has been removed as a member, but this also does not automatically eject her.
In a clarifying update to his ruling yesterday, Speaker of the House Adrian Rurawhe repeated he had not received a written message from Whaitiri that would trigger the Electoral (integrity) Act.
The so-called "waka-jumping" or "party-hopping" law aims to maintain the proportionality of Parliament as voted on by New Zealanders when an MP decides to switch from the party they represented when elected.
Rurawhe highlighted that his hands were, essentially, tied.
"As speaker I must be careful to ensure the law is applied correctly," he said.
"As I have outlined previously, I have received a message from the honourable Meka Whaitiri informing me that her vote would no longer be cast by the Labour Party and that she wished to be seated in the chamber next to members of Te Pāti Māori. It therefore is not a written notice that complies with Section 55B of the Electoral Act 1993.
"Using my judgement and the knowledge I had that the honourable Meka Whaitiri no longer wishes to serve as a member of the Labour Party, I determined that under standing order 35.5, the member would be regarded as an independent member for parliamentary purposes."
He also said Whaitiri was no longer a member of Labour.
"Under standing order 36, the Labour Party has now advised me that the honourable Meka Whaitiri is no longer a member of the Labour Party."
This on its own - as was the case with Gaurav Sharma and Jami-Lee Ross - also does not meet the threshold outlined in the Electoral Act.
When it was put to him, Rurawhe agreed that Whaitiri was an independent MP under standing orders but still a Labour member as far as the Electoral Act was concerned.
This means she will be able to cast her votes in the House independently, but Labour's allocation of questions and funding would be adjusted accordingly.
Asked whether he would release his correspondence with Whaitiri, Rurawhe said he could not - putting the ball in Whaitiri's court.
"I receive daily communications from members," he said. "It is really, I think, in the interest of every member that the speaker not be able to release private communications on anything but it's entirely appropriate that members - if they choose to do so - can do so."
He said he therefore could not explain how Whaitiri's email did not meet the threshold of the Electoral Act, because it would be breaching that confidentiality.
National deputy leader Nicola Willis said it was a mess and called on Whaitiri to release her correspondence. She said it made a farce of the legislation.
"I mean it was introduced with great fanfare and we always said 'Look, this will be problematic because when these things happen there'll be a whole bunch of hoo-ha', and that's exactly what's happening."
Justice Minister Kiri Allan said the discussion had covered legitimate issues.
"I actually thought it was a well engaged debate ... I'm sure that we're all studiously studying over the standing orders and the legislation ourselves, we don't have the information that the speaker has, that's a call for him."
