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RNZ News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Parliament faces a debate primed for filibuster in Budget week
Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke rips up a copy of the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill at the conclusion of the Bill's First Reading. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins Parliament could be debating the potential punishment of Te Pāti Māori MPs for last year's Treaty Principles haka well into the night, if not for weeks or even months. The opposition parties say the proposed punishments - 21 days for the co-leaders and seven for Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, who led the haka but showed contrition - is too severe. They will have the opportunity to explain that at length when Parliament sits at 2pm. Unusually for New Zealand's Parliament, it will be a debate primed for filibuster. Parliament's Speaker Gerry Brownlee set out the parameters last week, including that all 123 MPs will be allowed to speak - and if any amendment is put forward they would then be allowed to speak again. Such amendments could include a change to the length of the suspensions. Parliament's public gallery will be closed on Tuesday, but a protest is planned on the forecourt. Should the debate continue long enough, the Budget would take precedence over it and Te Pāti Māori MPs would be able to participate - including having their votes against the Budget recorded. Parties will carefully consider how to handle the debate in caucus meetings this morning, weighing how long the punishment should be and how long the debate lasts. Te Pāti Māori said the proposed punishment was unjust and unfair, silencing them and a quarter of te iwi Māori. Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo: RNZ / Russell Palmer Labour was undecided on its approach, with Chris Hipkins saying he would take the issue to his MPs at their caucus meeting this morning. He felt there were more important things to be debated - like pay equity - and he did not think New Zealanders wanted to see politicians continuing to talk about themselves, but also said the three weeks put forward by the Privileges Committee was a "massive escalation" on the previous harshest penalty - a three-day suspension. A spokesperson for the Green Party said they would be "scrutinising this decision to the highest degree". Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Monday ruled out any compromise , so a deal between the government and opposition for a shorter debate seems unlikely. ACT's David Seymour, whose bill prompted the haka, told RNZ Te Pāti Māori's behaviour showed its MPs believed their behaviour was acceptable. "I hope the debate will be over very quickly ... this is Budget week and New Zealanders deserve to see how the government will manage the economy over the coming year, not hijinks in response to very wrong hijinks of Te Pāti Māori," he said. "These are unprecedented offences and they deserve unprecedented penalties." He said the previous record of three days suspension handed to former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon for publicly criticising the Speaker was "very different from breaking ancient laws of our Parliment - tikanga if you like - that you should not leave your seat". "If they believe that is a legitimate way to do business, the punishment should be strong enough to persuade them of that belief, and I'd give them three months. "If it was up to me, a 90-day sentence of suspension but then subtract all the days they haven't shown up anyway. Like time served." New Zealand First's Winston Peters, who was also on the Privileges Committee that proposed the punishments, has long decried what he sees as falling standards at Parliament, putting the first-reading haka into that category. It will therefore be up to the Speaker and the opposition parties how long the debate lasts, and Brownlee has stated his willingness to support the minority in this case. Whether the disruption to the government's agenda is worth potential backlash for time wasting will be the political calculation being made. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
New Zealand: Three Maori MPs face suspension over protest haka
A New Zealand parliamentary committee has proposed that three Māori MPs be suspended from parliament for their protest haka during a sitting last MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke began the traditional group dance after being asked if her party supported a controversial bill - which has since been voted down - to redefine the country's founding treaty. The haka could have "initimidated" other lawmakers, the committee ruled, recommending that she be suspended for a week and Te Pāti Māori (Māori Party) co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer be banned for 21 Māori Party criticised the recommendations as a "warning shot to all of us to fall in line". "When tangata whenua resist, colonial powers reach for the maximum penalty," it said in a statement on Wednesday, using a Māori phrase that translates to "people of the land".It also said these are among the harshest punishments ever recommended by New Zealand's parliament. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who is Māori, said the trio were "out-of-control MPs who flout the rules and intimidate others with outrageous hakas".Their proposed suspensions will be put to a vote on Treaty Principles Bill, which sought to redefine New Zealand's founding treaty with Māori people, was voted down 112 votes to 11 last month - days after a government committee recommended that it should not bill had already been widely expected to fail, with most major political parties committed to voting it down. Members of the right-wing Act Party, which tabled it, were the only MPs to vote for it at the second reading on 10 April. Act, a minor party in the ruling centre-right coalition, argued that there is a need to legally define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi - the 1840 pact between the British Crown and Māori leaders signed during New Zealand's colonisation - which it said resulted in the country being divided by race. Critics, however, say the legislation will divide the country and lead to the unravelling of much-needed support for many Mā proposed legislation sparked widespread outrage across the country and saw more than 40,000 people taking part in a protest outside parliament during its first reading in November last that, thousands participated in a nine-day march against the bill- beginning in the far north and ending in who started the haka dance, also ripped up a copy of the bill when it was introduced.
