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BreakingNews.ie
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- BreakingNews.ie
New Zealand parliament suspends three Maori Party politicians over haka protest
New Zealand legislators have voted to enact record suspensions from parliament for three politicians who performed a Maori haka to protest over a proposed law. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days. Advertisement Three days had been the longest ban for a politician from New Zealand's parliament before. The lawmakers from Te Pati Maori, the Maori Party, performed the haka, a chanting dance of challenge, in November to oppose a widely unpopular bill, now defeated, that they said would reverse Indigenous rights. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and Rawiri Waititi (Charlotte Graham-McLay/AP) The protest drew global headlines and provoked months of fraught debate about what the consequences for the politicians' actions should be and the place of Maori culture in Parliament. A committee in April recommended the lengthy bans. It said they were not being punished for the haka, but for striding across the floor of the debating chamber toward their opponents while doing it. Advertisement Judith Collins, the committee chair, said the behaviour was egregious, disruptive and potentially intimidating. Ms Maipi-Clarke, 22, rejected that description, citing other instances when legislators have left their seats and approached opponents without sanction. The suspended legislators said they are being treated more harshly than others because they are Maori. 'I came into this house to give a voice to the voiceless. Is that the real issue here?' Ms Maipi-Clarke asked parliament. Advertisement 'Is that the real intimidation here? Are our voices too loud for this house?' Inside and outside parliament, the haka has increasingly been welcomed as an important part of New Zealand life. The sacred chant can be a challenge to the viewer but is not violent. As Maori language and culture have become part of mainstream New Zealand in recent years, haka appear in a range of cultural, sombre and celebratory settings. They also have rung out in parliament to welcome the passage of high-profile laws. Some who decried the protest haka in Parliament cited its timing, with Ms Maipi-Clarke beginning the chant as votes were being tallied and causing a brief suspension of proceedings. She has privately apologised for the disruption to Parliament's Speaker, she said. Advertisement
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
New Zealand parliament suspends Maori MPs who performed protest haka
New Zealand legislators have voted to suspend three MPs who performed a Maori haka in the House to protest against a controversial bill. The MPs from Te Pati Maori – the Maori Party – were handed the toughest sanctions ever imposed on legislators by New Zealand's parliament on Thursday. Te Pati Maori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer were both suspended from parliament for 21 days. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, New Zealand's youngest legislator, 22, was suspended for seven days. The length of the bans was recommended by parliament's privileges committee, which advised the trio should be suspended for acting in 'a manner that could have the effect of intimidating a member of the House'. It recommended Maipi-Clarke be given a shorter sanction because she had written a letter of 'contrition' to the parliament. Previously, the longest suspension imposed on an MP had been a three-day ban. Prior to Thursday's vote, Maipi-Clarke told legislators that the suspension was an effort to stop Maori from making themselves heard in parliament. 'Are our voices too loud for this house? Is that the reason why we are being silenced?' she said. 'We will never be silenced and we will never be lost.' The legislators had performed the haka in parliament in November. Their protest interrupted voting during the first reading of a proposed bill to legally define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, the 1840 pact between the British Crown and Indigenous Maori leaders signed during New Zealand's colonisation. The proposed law prompted widespread protests amid concerns it would erode Maori rights. It was later scrapped. Maipi-Clarke had begun the protest by ripping a copy of the legislation, before she and fellow MPs approached the leader of the right-wing party that had backed the proposed law. Their actions prompted complaints from fellow MPs to the parliament's speaker that their protest was disorderly, and the matter was sent to parliament's privileges committee, prompting months of debate. A report from the privileges committee said that while both haka and Maori ceremonial dance and song are not uncommon in parliament, members were aware that permission was needed from the speaker beforehand.
Arab News
6 days ago
- General
- Arab News
New Zealand parliament suspends three lawmakers who performed Maori haka in protest
WELLINGTON: New Zealand legislators voted Thursday to enact record suspensions from Parliament for three lawmakers who performed a Maori haka to protest a proposed law. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days. Three days had been the longest ban for a lawmaker from New Zealand's Parliament before. The lawmakers from Te Pati Maori, the Maori Party, performed the haka, a chanting dance of challenge, last November to oppose a widely unpopular bill, now defeated, that they said would reverse Indigenous rights. But the protest drew global headlines and provoked months of fraught debate among lawmakers about what the consequences for the lawmakers' actions should be and whether New Zealand's Parliament welcomed or valued Maori culture — or felt threatened by it. A committee of the lawmakers' peers in April recommended the lengthy punishments in a report that said the lawmakers were not being punished for the haka itself, but for striding across the floor of the debating chamber toward their opponents while they did it. Maipi-Clarke Thursday rejected that, citing other instances where legislators have left their seats and approached their opponents without sanction. It was expected that the suspensions would be approved, because government parties have more seats in Parliament than the opposition and had the necessary votes to affirm them. But the punishment was so severe that Parliament Speaker Gerry Brownlee in April ordered a free-ranging debate among lawmakers and urged them to attempt to reach a consensus on what repercussions were appropriate. No such accord was reached Thursday. During hours of at times emotional speeches, government lawmakers rejected opposition proposals for lighter sanctions. There were suggestions that opposition lawmakers might extend the debate for days or even longer through filibuster-style speeches, but with the outcome already certain and no one's mind changed, all lawmakers agreed that the debate should end.
