Sharples seeks apology from Harawira

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira will have to apologise to the nation if he is stay in the party, the party's co-leader Pita Sharples says.

Mr Harawira has spent time in his Tai Tokerau electorate talking to elders and others about his future after being asked to consider leaving by party leaders following an abuse email while defending an unauthorised trip to Paris while on parliamentary business last month.

Dr Sharples said it was likely Mr Harawira would stay.

"It's looking that way. The way his iwi is talking, he's talking and the meetings I've been too."

However, conditions would be imposed.

"Given what's happened of course an apology to New Zealand, (for his) various statements and behaviour would be the minimum," Dr Sharples said.

"If he's going to come back in the party eventually we'd have to be working together as a caucus. We need his expertise and so on."

But there was likely to be a period of suspension.

"That's certainly got to be a possibility that we are going to think about."

Mr Harawira admitted in his weekly column in the Northland Age yesterday he had made some major mistakes.

"I have got a ways to go before I can get back on my horse and a lot of ground to cover to rebuild broken alliances. But these are the times when you really see who your friends are."

However, he also referred to the "rather astonishing statements from my party's leadership" during his enforced time out.

Dr Sharples said if he meant remarks he and co-leader Tariana Turia made about his behaviour, "he knows he's hard to control, so does his iwi".