PM Jacinda Ardern visits Nelson, says there are more important things to deal with than rogue MP Gaurav Sharma

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed she has not heard from suspended Labour MP Dr Gaurav Sharma in almost a week, acknowledging he is not her priority now.

Speaking on TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning, Ardern said it was a sad situation for her and the Labour caucus.

“It’s a part of our team. We’ve also come up with mediation to try and fix the problem – but you can see from the action that people don’t want to be involved.

“For example, I still haven’t had any response to my calls or messages after the caucus decision was made.”

Shire was suspended on Tuesday after he made serious bullying allegations against MPs. This is a unanimous vote.

Ardern was speaking this morning in flood-hit Nelson, where she will investigate the damage from last week’s heavy rain and its impact on local residents.

Wearing a raincoat, she admits there are other priorities to deal with at the moment – and Sharma is not one of them.

“I shouldn’t be here talking about the actions of individual MPs right now,” she said.

“Some people have lost their homes. It’s not the most important thing for them (the caucus) and I can tell you it’s not my only concern.”

When asked if she had confidence in Sharma at this point, Ardern smiled slightly before saying: “Well…I think you can see from our actions that at every stage we tried to make The door is open.”

She was also asked about Sharma’s future within the party and whether he would be fired. The Labour caucus meets again tomorrow to determine his fate.

Ardern said the decision – including her own views on the issue – would be discussed by the caucus and decided accordingly.

“They were very disappointed,” she said.

Tuesday’s suspension comes after the Hamilton West MP raised his concerns and claims about bullying within Labour to the media, including an op-ed he wrote for the Herald.

Late last week, on Thursday, Sharma told Newshub that “very big things” were going on within the party and that there was some kind of cover-up.