Mata Season 3 Episode 11 Tania Waikato

RNZ News

a day ago

In the wake of an unprecedented punishment for the haka that drew global attention to the Treaty Principles Bill, Te Pāti Māori legal representative Tania Waikato reflects on the fallout, the opposition to the Regulatory Standards Bill, and what this moment reveals about Māori political power.
Parliament took the unprecedented step of suspending both Te Pāti Māori leaders - Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi - for 21 days. Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was suspended for seven days - but had also been punished with a 24-hour suspension on the day over a haka all three had performed in Parliament, against the Treaty Principles Bill, in November.
It is against the rules of the House for members to leave their seats during a debate - which all three did.
Waikato said one of the most galling things about the entire process was that the haka was said to be intimidatory and that the process the committee adopted was framed in that way from the beginning.
She said in her 20 years of being a lawyer she had not seen a process that "disrespected the laws of natural justice" in the way it did.
"I was actually flabbergasted at the lack of respect that that body had for very very basic rights that had anyone who's been accused of any type of behaviour that could have a censure result, let alone a censure of this magnitude, imposed on them should be given."
Requests to the committee to have a hearing at a time when both counsels were available and for the accused to bring evidence to defend themselves against the allegations were rejected even though that was provided for in the standing orders, she said.
"So right from the beginning of the process they were not following their own rules and they were ... in my opinion trumping up the charges to make them sound as serious as possible and to slant the outcome towards what we ended up with."
Asked why the MPs chose not to appear before the committee, Waikato said it was because the MPs felt they would not get a fair hearing.
"They felt, and quite rightly I believe, that they had already predetermined what they were going to decide."
Waikato, who is also a health and safety lawyer, said Parliament was supposed to be the height of democracy but the behaviour of MPs within the House had degenerated and was "sliding towards this gutter politics style".
"I watched some of the behaviour that goes on in the House and particularly in that last debate before the suspensions were made and there is no way that you could behave like that in any other workplace and get away with it - it would be illegal and you would be hauled up on workplace bullying charges in an instant if you behaved like that in any other workplace."
Waikato said she would have advised Te Pāti Māori MPs to do the haka had she been their lawyer prior to this on the basis that the Treaty Principles Bill was "the most divisive, racist piece of legislation that has ever been introduced during our lifetimes".
It was an exceptional event which required an exceptional response, she said.
"And the Speaker took action on the day, it's not like there was nothing that happened on the day, Hannah was censured for what happened, it should have stopped there."
It should not have been referred to the Privileges Committee, she said.
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