MP finding alliance 'a bit of a struggle'

Firebrand Maori Party MP Hone Harawira – under attack for an explosive email – says he could quit at the next election over his party's support for National.

Harawira said this week he was concerned the party was too close to National – despite the relationship delivering a crucial promise to scrap the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

The comments came before Harawira was embroiled in a row with party leaders over an email to a critic in which he branded Pakeha "white motherf......" who "have been raping our lands and ripping us off for centuries".

The email was sent to resource consent consultant and former Waitangi Tribunal member Buddy Mikaere, who had questioned who paid for Harawira and his wife's jaunt to Paris during a taxpayer-funded Parliamentary visit to Europe.

Harawira took the day trip – which he paid for – instead of attending official engagements in Brussels.

The party said yesterday it was considering whether to take disciplinary action – which could include expulsion – for the email and the jaunt.

Tariana Turia is understood to be particularly upset that Harawira told her he missed the Brussels meetings because he was ill.

She is also likely to be concerned the email could inflame race relations as iwi prepare submissions on customary title to the foreshore and seabed, a racially explosive issue when the act was passed in 2004.

Party co-vice-president Heta Hingston said Harawira had sent a message to the board apologising "unreservedly" if the email had harmed the party.

Harawira told TV3 he regretted his choice of language, but not the sentiments.

The Human Rights Commission said it had received calls from people who found the comments "offensive and divisive" and it would assess any complaints.

Prime Minister John Key said the email was deeply offensive and inflammatory, but it was for the Maori Party to deal with.

The row has fuelled speculation that Harawira is deeply disillusioned with the Maori Party's decision to back National. It is understood several supporters in his Te Tai Tokerau stronghold are also unhappy with the relationship.

He confirmed his concerns to Fairfax, despite praising the deal leading to the Foreshore and Seabed Act being scrapped, and said he could walk away in 2011.

"I'm finding it a bit of a struggle, to tell you the truth. If I have doubts, it's the doubts that everybody thought would be apparent about the Maori Party and National; the fact that we are a party that has dedicated a lot of our speaking time and a lot of our efforts to the protection of those less fortunate in our society, and I think they're coming under increasing attack from this government.

"I just think there's a need to establish some distance between the things that the Maori Party really believes in and the things that National believes in."

Concerns included having to vote for tax cuts for the wealthy, but not the poor. The Maori Party's support at this stage for National's ACC reforms was also a problem.

Turia was not available last night, but conceded during the week that Harawira had often voiced opposition to some of the party's decisions and direction, as had other MPs.