Labour MP Gaurav Sharma has been suspended from caucus effective immediately, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced.
It was the "most appropriate" response to "repeated breaches of trust" committed by the MP, Ardern said after a special party caucus meeting today.
Sharma, the Hamilton West MP, faced judgment from his colleagues this afternoon after making a string of public accusations that he was "bullied" and the party had refused to investigate his side of the story over staff issues.
He went public with allegations of "rampant" bullying within Parliament last week in a New Zealand Herald column.
A "sense of trust" had been broken amongst caucus over the ongoing incident, Ardern said.
Sharma would continue as MP for Hamilton West but not take part in caucus decisions unless invited.
Sharma, who did not attend today's caucus meeting, was phoned, texted and emailed with invitations to join but did not, Ardern said.
Today's press conference was delayed from 4pm to 4:30pm so Sharma could be contacted ahead of the decision.
Ardern said she called and texted, but did not reach him, adding she hoped this wasn't the first time he was being informed.
Today's meeting time was suggested by Sharma but he still did not participate, Ardern said.
Ardern said a review would take place in December to see whether Sharma could return to caucus.
Following the review, Sharma could be brought back into the fold, expelled or stay suspended.
The decision to suspend the MP was "unanimous", and caucus retained the ability to revisit Sharma's status at any time.
Those "were not appreciated" by Sharma, Ardern said.
Had those interventions not been made, Ardern said she feared there would have been different allegations made, including negligence.
She had seen nothing to substantiate the claims made by Sharma, which included bullying.
The concerns of staff had been "obscured" in recent days, Ardern felt, but they were her primary concern.
Caucus has initiated a mediation process for these issues to be resolved between Sharma and the whips.
The mediation was an opportunity for Sharma to litigate his concerns without compromising confidentiality of staff.
Ardern said it was "frustrating" and "disappointing".
She didn't want MPs talking about themselves, given the issues facing New Zealand now.
MPs were "very hurt and upset" at what had happened, Ardern said.
She defined the business as serious misconduct.
The door had been left open for Sharma to come back in as an active caucus member because he was part of a team, Ardern said.
When asked about a Labour Zoom meeting last night, which Sharma did not attend, Ardern said it was not a "formal" meeting as not all members were there, adding the result was not "predetermined" as Sharma had claimed today.
"That would not be a fair process," Ardern said.
A small number of MPs were absent from the meeting last night, meaning it wasn't a full caucus meeting.
It was a forum for issues and concerns to be raised, Ardern said.
Asked whether he had gone rogue, Ardern said she couldn't say that given she hadn't spoken to him.
It was of note to Ardern that there was only one person who was unable to make today's meeting.
She couldn't say whether Sharma was aware of the meeting taking place last night.
The reason that meeting was held was because Labour MPs didn't feel they had a safe space to share their thoughts with Sharma there.
Someone sent a screenshot of the planning of today's caucus meeting, which also had evidence of the late-night secret meeting, to Sharma, Ardern said.
She said she was "somewhat embarrassed" by the incident.
Ardern would not confirm who it was that sent Sharma a screenshot that accidentally included evidence of last night's meeting taking place, which alerted Sharma to its existence.
Ardern could give no information on the screenshots, published on social media by Sharma, that allegedly proved some MPs were sharing some of Sharma's concerns
However, she said she had "doubt" the screenshots were shared by Sharma with permission by those people who sent the messages originally.
Asked whether colleagues have been defamed by Sharma, Ardern again stated there was nothing to substantiate Sharma's allegations. Ardern was concerned unsubstantiated claims had been made, given the type of information that had been released.
Ardern said they considered releasing communication presumably had between Sharma and party officials to prove their position, but eventually decided it would risk compromising the anonymity of the people involved.
On Sharma's staff, given he will stay as an MP, Ardern said resolution had been found on Wednesday last week around these employment issues. The resolution concerns future hiring.
The issue
After high staff turnover and what the PM has said were multiple complaints from staff about his management, Labour's whips told Sharma he could not hire any further staff until he undertook training.
Sharma took exception and claimed that his own complaints about "incompetent" staff were not investigated, nor was his complaint to the Prime Minister's chief of staff that he was "bullied" by the party whips instead of being given a fair go.
He also claimed other MPs had complained about being bullied – although no other MP has yet come forward. Sharma aired his views first in an opinion piece on nzherald.co.nz, which made generalised comments about "rampant bullying" by MPs - and then in two Facebook posts which were more specific.
The rules
The party's constitution sets out grounds for disciplining party members and MPs.
It has a code of conduct which applies to all party members, including MPs.
Under that and the party rules, MPs can be disciplined for "bringing the party into disrepute."
That is a vague, catch-all but serious offence and the PM had pointed to it as the one caucus would be considering in Sharma's case.
The PM has said MPs will have their own views about Sharma's actions, but that the brunt of it is that MPs are supposed to deal with their problems through internal channels – rather than going public or to the media. Those channels included the whip's office, the Labour leader or someone she assigned to deal with it.
Sharma's counter to that is that he had gone to the whips and to the PM's chief of staff with his complaints, but was ignored and nothing happened. He had gone public as a last resort.
