New Zealand parliament suspended by protest haka on chamber floor
Critics of a revision to the official interpretation of a central Maori document broke out in protest on the floor of parliament in Wellington.
New Zealand’s parliament has been suspended in the midst of a landmark vote due to a haka protest sparked by the first reading on a contentious Maori rights bill.
Protests have erupted nationwide in New Zealand over a bill to reinterpret the Treaty of Waitangi, a foundational treaty dictating the central rights of Maori people, and the status of te reo as an official language.
Conservative parties argue current interpretations of the nearly 200-year-old treaty have led to divisions based on race, while critics of the revision argue it impinges on centuries of established rights.
On Thursday, a vote on the bill was cut short by a protest from Te Pati Maori MPs, representing the progressive minor party, who began a haka disrupting proceedings.
Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, the MP for Hauraki Waikato, began the haka, before being joined by fellow party members. Ms Maipi-Clarke tore the proposed bill as she began the display.
Members of the opposition stood in solidarity during the protest, which was also joined by onlookers in the public gallery.
The bill has also divided the conservative government, with Prime Minister Chris Luxon saying he will not support the bill upon its second reading.
A protest convoy has been making its way across the country in the lead-up to today’s vote beginning on the northern coast and descending to Wellington.
“This is all that I know, to be Maori,” Ms Maipi-Clarke said after the protest. “We didn’t get the opportunity to debate this bill as much as we would have liked to.”
“(So) we’ve waited to the last debate, the very last vote that we’ve had, to do what we’ve had to do.”
An outcome for the first reading vote is as of yet unknown.
‘Starved, emaciated, pained’: Israel shocked at sight of freed hostages
Israeli president accuses Hamas of a crime against humanity as the families of Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi react in horror at the men’s frailty after they were paraded on stage by their captors.
US judge blocks DOGE from Treasury data
The order says anyone who has accessed data from the Treasury Department’s records since Donald Trump was inaugurated must ‘immediately destroy any and all copies of material downloaded.’