Former MP Hone Harawira is calling on the Corrections minister to consider Brian Tamaki's Man Up programme.

He's the latest name to join the long-running issue where Tamaki has failed to get the programme into New Zealand prisons.

The programme shot back into the spotlight this week following a series of inflammatory social media posts between Tamaki and several MPs.

Yesterday, Tamaki tweeted that several ministers, include Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, had 'gang raped' him over the war of words. 

Harawira told Mike Yardley that sometimes you have to "snap people's thinking" in order to get them to think about what you are offering. 

"I don't know why Brian spoke the way he did, but he certainly got everyone talking."

He says that people should step back from the controversial comments and focus on whether Man Up has had an effect, and at least from his perspective, Harawira says that he seen the positive impact it has had. 

"It's not just about the changes it's making to brothers, because some of them I've not spoken to them, I've gone to talk to their wives. I've said 'is this real', and they tell me 'I don't know what it is, Hone, but the man has been changing and I couldn't be happier'.

He wants Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis to "put his ego aside" and invite Tamaki to the table to discuss the programme. 

However, Harawira says he's not aware whether Tamaki has formally applied Corrections to run the programme.

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"It's the opportunity for the Minister to rise above this and say 'Brian, instead of making an application, let's talk first'."

Harawira says he is open to help broker peace between the two sides. 

Davis has said that he is at least be open to the idea of the programme being implemented.