Maori MPs face unprecedented ban over protest haka

The leaders of The Maori Party and one of their MPs are accused of intimidating behaviour after tearing up a race relations bill and performing the haka in parliament.

The Maori Party MPs rip up the Treaties Bill and perform a protest haka in NZ parliament's chamber.

The leaders of New Zealand’s Maori Party and one of their MPs face an unprecedented ban from parliament for performing a protest haka in the chamber last year during the reading of a contentious race relations bill.

Maori Party MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, 22, derailed parliament in November when she ripped a copy of the proposed laws in half while performing a spirited traditional chant.

She was joined by party co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, who strode on to the chamber floor chanting the Ka Mate haka famously performed by the country’s All Blacks rugby team.

A parliamentary committee on Wednesday evening recommended suspending Mr Waititi and Ms Ngarewa-Packer for three weeks, and Ms Maipi-Clarke for seven days.

Committee chair Judith Collins said the MPs’ behaviour was intimidating, and lashed Ms Ngarewa-Packer for appearing to point her finger at MPs of the ACT party – which had introduced the bill – like a gun.

“We’ve never had penalties like this in this Parliament before, but that’s because we’ve never seen this sort of behaviour during a vote in the House. I’ve never seen anything like it. This was a very sad day for Parliament,” she said.

The Maori Party said it was one of the harshest punishments ever doled out in New Zealand’s parliament.

“When tangata whenua resist, colonial powers reach for the maximum penalty,” the party said in a statement, using a phrase for Maori people.

“This is a warning shot to all of us to fall in line.”

Tania Waikato, who represented Te Pāti Māori at the Privileges Committee, called the punishment an “absolute disgrace”.

“Te Pāti Māori MPs used a cultural expression in its truest form to express the feelings off … almost 270,00 people who objected to the Treaty Principals Bill being suspended for an unprecedented term. No, we don’t think it’s an appropriate punishment,” Ms Waikato told Radio NZ.

ACT leader David Seymour questioned whether the punishment was tough enough.

“What we’ve seen is people grossly breach the conditions of Parliament, refuse to show up to the hearing, and then leak the contents of Select Committee proceedings to try and further mock the people’s Parliament,” he said.

“I think, all things considered, they’ve got off pretty lightly.”

Deputy prime minister Winston Peters described the trio as “out-of-control MPs who flout the rules and intimidate others with outrageous hakas”.

Parliament will vote on the suspension next week, although it is widely expected to pass.

The Treaty Principles Bill sought to reinterpret New Zealand’s founding document, signed between Maori chiefs and British representatives in 1840.

Many critics saw the bill as an attempt to wind back the special rights given to the country’s 900,000-strong Maori population.

Parliament resoundingly voted down the bill last month.

AFP