Tava lives in Auckland and served as a member of the Waitematā Local Board between 2013 and 2019, representing the left-wing City Vision ticket, which is affiliated with both the Labour and Green parties.

[3] While a member of the Green Party, he served as their Auckland co-conveyor, Standing Orders Convenor on the National Executive, and as their electorate candidate for Northcote in 2011.

During the 2017 New Zealand general election, he joined the 2017 campaign team of the centre-right National Party's East Coast Bays candidate Erica Stanford.

Cartwright and a small number of members resigned due to her assertion that the party lacked policies and funds.

Tava denied Cartwright's allegations, asserting that the party had met the minimum membership threshold by the time the application was approved by the Electoral Commission.

[9][10] In October 2020, Tava admitted that the woman featured in one of Sustainable New Zealand's online video advertisements (purported to be a small business owner named Jill) was actually an actor who was his partner, Julie.