Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere breaks silence, questions co-leaders over investigation

Embattled Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere has finally spoken out about the party’s investigation into her, hitting out at the co-leaders.

Kerekere told Green Party members, who will ultimately decide her fate, that she believes the Green co-leaders, James Shaw and Marama Davidson, have made it very difficult for her to continue as an MP.

She also denied calling Chlöe Swarbrick “a crybaby”, saying it was actually a response to another message – and she was talking about herself. That crybaby message, which was accidentally sent to the entire Green caucus, led to the Green Party commissioning its own investigation into Kerekere’s conduct – and other bullying allegations surfacing against her.

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But Kerekere remained silent until Friday night, despite a make-or-break Green Party vote currently taking place.

She finally denied bullying anyone and said she’d apologised to Swarbrick over the “crybaby” text.

The silence breaks

Kerekere broke her silence during a Zoom call with about 400 Green Party members at 8pm on Friday. Sources who attended the meeting told Stuff that Kerekere criticised the investigation process, and said she’d only received its terms of reference on Wednesday.

Her supporters had been critical of the time this investigation was taking, saying it was “dragged out” and questioning why it had to take so long – especially during the list ranking process.

She said the weeks-long investigation process was stopping her from doing her work. Kerekere hasn’t spoken to any reporters since the crybaby text, and this was the first time she had addressed it openly.

Sources from the meeting said Kerekere directly criticised Shaw and Davidson, claiming they had declined opportunities to de-escalate the crybaby saga. She suggested she felt pushed from the party.

Kerekere said she believed that message was leaked purposely, from an MP attempting to get a higher list ranking at her own expense.

She said the other Greens didn’t appear interested in why the “crybaby” message was leaked.

In a draft Green list released early April, Kerekere had a very high ranking, at fourth place. Her steep accession since she entered Parliament was understood to have ruffled feathers amongst older hands.

The Green Party leaders were approached for comment after the meeting.

Green members weren’t able to ask Kerekere any questions at the meeting. In the wake of Meka Whaitiri’s shock defection from Labour, she also said no other political party had approached her.

Green power ranking

The Green membership is in the midst of an MP and would-be MP power ranking process, to form the official party list for this election.

A high ranking guarantees a seat. And if an MP’s ranking goes down, it could mean they’ll lose their jobs at the election.

Last week, the Green members met to vote on delaying the ranking process. Those wanting to delay it said it wasn’t fair to vote before the investigation was complete, but the members ultimately decided not to delay the ranking vote.