Time for Hone to go

We reckon that the time has come for the Maori Party to finally cut Hone Harawia adrift. There have been repeated incidents where Harawira has come into conflict with both his party and the voting public to whom he owes his existence as an MP. But we reckon that this is the straw to break the camel's back - Stuff reports:

Controversial Maori Party MP Hone Harawira has defended his nephews who yelled protests at Prime Minister John Key this morning, calling him "the enemy" as he was led on to Te Tii Marae.

However, Harawira said he did not know the protestors were planning their action and he did not know what they said.

"I was quite proud of the protestors. They raised the dust. I am always encouraged when I hear Maori standing up for their rights."

Hone Harawira is not the naive innocent that he portrays himself to be, in our humble opinion. He has incited division within the Maori Party, and in his Te Tai Tokerau electorate. Both his immediate and wider family have a long history of activism, which has frequently crossed over into criminal behaviour. We simply do not believe his denials.

But wait; it gets worse. As the Herald reports, the accusations that Harawira's nephews were making against John Key bordered on the ridiculous - read on:

Wikitana (Wi) Popata, with his brother John, launched a protest directed at Prime Minister John Key and other dignitaries entering the marae, yelling through a loud hailer: "Why are you here? The enemy is amongst us.

"He is the one responsible for stealing our lands and killing many of our rangatahi (young people)," said Mr Popata this morning. "We must become a free nation from this corrupt government... from these injustices that he's put upon our people."

Hone Harawira needs to pause and reflect. Sadly, too many young Maori die at the hands of other Maori, not at the hands of the government. Harawira should be looking for solutions to the horrific rate of child abuse in New Zealand, a statistic in which Maori are over-represented. For him to endorse, either directly or by his silence such racist nonsence as spoken by Wi Popata is abhorrent.

Harawira's actions today, or the lack thereof have merely poisoned the relationship between him and his caucus colleagues further, if that is possible. It is time for the Maori Party to cut him adrift. Let him go off and join the other disaffected like Matt McCarten and Sue Bradford to form a party which will have, we are sure, widespread appeal; to about 2% of the electorate, that is.