A Maori Party hui in Whangarei has ended without resolving the political future of Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira.
Maori Party members gathered at Pehiaweri Marae for a hui which began on Saturday night and finished on Sunday.
Mr Harawira has been under fire for skipping a day of a 12-day taxpayer-funded trip in Europe to go sightseeing in Paris with his wife and later writing an expletive-filled email about the issue.
Maori Party leaders Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia suggested two weeks ago that Mr Harawira should become an independent MP, saying his actions had damaged the party.
Since then Mr Harawira has kept a low profile, taking advice from supporters and Maori elders.
But hui participants told Radio New Zealand that party members are solidly behind Mr Harawira and upset with other MPs for speaking out publicly without consulting them, as tikanga demands.
Mr Harawira - who was the only MP at the hui - emerged from the whare draped in a feather cloak; and stood with the party president Professor Whatarangi Winiata, to read a prepared statement.
He said the Maori Party Council had offered the hui a dispute resolution process to follow and this had been accepted.
Professor Winiata says there will be a meeting of all parties involved on Tuesday night, and he rejected suggestions of a deadlock between the MPs and the party membership.
Public don't support Harawiram - poll
The public doesn't support Mr Harawira remaining in Parliament according to a political poll released on Sunday.
The Television New Zealand poll asked 1000 potential voters if they thought Mr Harawira should remain in Parliament. Of those, 69% said he shouldn't, while 23% thought he should stay.
The poll also asked whether Mr Harawira's comments in the email were racist.
Seventy-seven percent thought the comments were racist, while 16% said they weren't.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.
