A ground-shaking Haka briefly suspended New Zealand’s Parliament as Māori politicians opposed a controversial bill.
The libertarian party ACT, a junior partner in the New Zealand National Party-led coalition, has introduced a bill that will radically change the way the Treaty of Waitangi is interpreted.
The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand, an agreement signed between the British Crown and around 540 Maori chiefs on February 6, 1840.
It still defines the relationship between Māori and the governing authorities.
But the ACT says it gives indigenous Kiwis greater legal and political rights and its bill will end what they describe as a “racial divide”.
The bill has sparked waves of protests and warnings from academics and lawyers that it will negatively affect Māori rights.
These protests spread to parliament on Thursday after the bill was introduced two weeks earlier than originally planned.
When each party was called to provide their votes for the treaty principles bill on Thursday afternoon, Hauraki Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, from the Te Pati Māori Party, broke out into a haka.
When each party was called to provide their votes for the treaty principles bill on Thursday afternoon, Hauraki Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, from the Te Pati Māori Party, broke out into a haka (in photo).
Furious Speaker of Parliament Gerry Brownlee attempted to stop the performance.
But the entire public gallery and Te Pāti Māori MPs continued with the haka, while Labor and Green MPs apparently supported the protest.
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi performed the haka directly in front of the ACT Party benches, looking directly at their leader David Seymour, who has been a strong supporter of the bill.
The Speaker then suspended parliament, later describing the haka as “seriously disorderly” and calling it “terribly disrespectful conduct within the House”.
A furious Gerry Brownlee, the speaker of parliament, attempted to stop the performance.
The treaty principles bill has already passed its first reading with the support of the National, NZ First and ACT parties.
It will return to Parliament next year to be voted on again.
Up to 8,000 protesters are currently marching across New Zealand’s North Island in opposition to the bill.
A Haka is a ceremonial war dance performed in Maori culture involving chanting and vigorous body movements.
There are several different types of hakas that can be performed on different occasions.
For example, the New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, performs a haka before each test match.