Former Waitangi Tribunal director Buddy Mikaere questioned Mr Harawira on his trip to Paris at the expense of the tax payer while Mr Harawira was meant to be on an official trip to Brussels. In reply Mr Harawira referred to Pakeha as "white mother*******."
The email sparked two weeks of speculation about Mr Harawira's future.
. . . Mr Harawira has been allowed to remain with the party following three weeks of debate over his future.
He has asked and been granted permission to remain in his Te Taitokerau electorate for the remainder of the year, meaning he will miss the final two weeks of Parliament.
However, there was little by way of formal censure for him.
Mr Harawira outlined what action the party was taking with an apology - this time more fulsome than his previous effort.
He apologised to both Maori and Pakeha for the comments, saying they were "insensitive, hurtful and unnecessary" and had caused much grief.
He also acknowledged he was responsible for damaging his party, saying it had spent four years building up credibility and good will.
"My comments have derailed much of that credibility and set 
back our efforts to build bridges for our people into the future."
He said he was also aware he had responsibilities as a leader in Maoridom, and apologised to youth for setting a bad example.
. . . "Everybody acknowledges there were wrongs in the past and that is the whole purpose of the Waitangi Tribunal - to bring these things to the surface and deal with them," Mr Mikaere said.
Party whip Te Ururoa Flavell said Mr Harawira had acknowledged his responsibility for the damage he had caused.
"We acknowledge that people make mistakes and we from time to time err ... The Party, in recognising the hurt that statements have caused hopes this apology moves some way to righting a wrong. We acknowledge the wrong."
All the Maori MPs would agree to abide by a code of behaviour, which included unity, he said.
Decisions over the punishment to be exacted on Mr Harawira were handed over to caucus after a lengthy process of meetings with his elders in Te Taitokerau and a wrap-up hui on Saturday in Whangarei.
Party president Whatarangi Winiata had asked Mr Harawira to leave the party and become an independent but the party's leadership weakened its stance since then.
The co-leaders initially made it apparent he was no longer welcome in the party, citing their difficulty in controlling him and claiming he believed he was accountable only to his own electorate, rather than to the party.
Does "racist" depend on who's making the comments?
. . . Labour leader Phil Goff has criticised Mr Harawira strongly for his racially loaded comments, saying anybody who had made such comments in Labour's caucus would be ejected.
A TV One Colmar Brunton poll on Sunday night found 77 per cent believed Mr Harawira's comments were racist while only 16 per cent did not; 69 per cent believed he should no longer stay in Parliament. You can read the full apology on NZ Herald's website.
Paul Thomas comments in the same newspaper:
Clearly Harawira likes using violent language and striking thuggish attitudes. In the aftermath of his 'white motherf*****s' outburst, there was some debate over whether it was merely a late-night rant or an accurate reflection of who and what he is. In truth it scarcely matters: for the time being at least, Harawira's words are more important than he is.
The fall-out took some curious turns. Some questioned whether Harawira's language was racist, to which the obvious reaction is: well, if it isn't, what is? Given political correctness' relentless assault on the language of potential or conceivable offence, it seems perverse to argue that Harawira's verbal hand grenade wasn't actually racist.
Then there was John Key's feeble response: clearly MMP means never having to draw a line in the sand. And there was the chummy approach adopted by various broadcasters and journalists in their interviews with Harawira.
It's safe to assume that they would have been a lot more judgmental if the source of racial trash talk had been a pakeha. But then we didn't need this dismal episode to prove the existence of a double standard: the mere fact of the Maori Party does that. The double standard is part and parcel of coming to terms with our history, recognising that redress has to be made, and working through that process.
However, if Harawira prefers to posture like a Black Panther circa 1967 rather than conduct himself as an MP of a party which forms part of the government, the rest of the us could be excused for wondering if he and his supporters are really interested in closure and harmonious race relations based on shared national identity and a mutually respectful partnership.
Banana republics tend to be characterised by distrustful and vengeful relationships between social classes and/or ethnic communities engendering a winner-takes-all approach to the exercise of power. Although we've made significant progress in the opposite direction, the disconcerting thing about Harawira's diatribe was that it suggests this progress hasn't changed his outlook one iota. By Paul Thomas
Comments