He appeared in Waitakere District Court today, two months after pleading not guilty to the charge.
But today he said he had reconsidered his position and asked to change his stance.
"Your honour, it's not an excuse but when it happened I was in an argument on social media about another issue and I thought I'd use that as my argument," Henare said.
"Really I have no more to say other than an apology to the court for wasting its time, the police department for wasting its time and really I should've known better, but there we are."
Late last year, Henare breached a suppression order on Twitter regarding the case of a well-known New Zealander who had admitted to performing an indecent act after an incident in 2011, but was later discharged without conviction and granted permanent name suppression at sentencing.
Henare was not so lucky.
Judge Kevin Glubb said breaching court-imposed orders was "a very serious matter" and warned him doing it again would result in a more serious penalty.
Henare was ordered to pay $1200, plus court costs.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment.
By Rob Kidd of the NZME. News Service
