A ‘floor-shaking’ Haka briefly suspended New Zealand’s parliament as Maori politicians opposed a controversial bill.
The libertarian ACT party, a minor partner in New Zealand’s National Party-led coalition, has introduced a bill that would radically change the way the Treaty of Waitangi is interpreted.
The Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand’s founding document, an agreement signed on February 6, 1840 between the British Crown and approximately 540 Maori chiefs.
It still defines the relationship between Maori and the ruling authorities.
But the ACT claims it gives Indigenous Kiwis greater legal and political rights and that their bill will end what they describe as “racial division”.
The bill has sparked waves of protests and warnings from academics and lawyers that it will have a negative impact on Maori rights.
These protests spread to parliament on Thursday after the bill was introduced two weeks before it was originally planned.
When each party was called on to vote for the Treaty Principles Act on Thursday afternoon, Hauraki Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of the Te Pati Maori Party burst into a haka.
As each party was called on to vote for the Treaty Principles Act on Thursday afternoon, Hauraki Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of the Te Pati Maori Party burst into a haka (pictured)
Furious MP Gerry Brownlee tried to stop the action.
But the entire public gallery and Te Pāti Māori MPs continued with the haka, while Labor and Green MPs clearly supported the protest.
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi performed the haka directly in front of the ACT Party seats, looking directly at their leader David Seymour, who has been an outspoken supporter of the bill.
The speaker then suspended Parliament, later describing the haka as “grossly disorderly” and calling it “appallingly disrespectful behavior within the House.”
An angry Gerry Brownlee, the Speaker of Parliament, tried to stop the action
The Treaty Principles Bill has now passed its first reading with the support of the National, NZ First and ACT parties.
It will go back to parliament next year for another vote.
About 8,000 protesters are currently marching across New Zealand’s North Island to oppose the bill.
A Haka is a ceremonial war dance performed in Maori culture that involves chanting and vigorous body movements.
There are several different types of hakas that can be performed for different occasions.
For example, the New Zealand rugby team – the All Blacks – performs a haka before every test match.