Haka erupts in New Zealand parliament over controversial bill

A remarkable event unfolded in the New Zealand Parliament this week, as a group of MPs disrupted proceedings with a passionate haka during a vote on a contentious bill. This sudden display threw the parliamentary debate into chaos and drew widespread attention.

The bill, known as the Treaty Principles Bill, was proposed by ACT Party leader David Seymour and seeks to reinterpret the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi (also known as Te Tiriti o Waitangi). This treaty is an agreement between Māori chiefs and the British Crown and is considered one of New Zealand's founding documents. Supporters argue that the bill would provide equality for all New Zealand citizens and eliminate "privileged" treatment of Māori, while opponents believe the bill is overly simplistic and could further exacerbate the social barriers and prejudice faced by Māori.

The parliamentary debate on the bill erupted yesterday afternoon when Māori Party MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke tore up a copy of the Treaty Principles Bill, after which MPs and the public stood and performed the haka "Ka Mate". Opposition MPs and members of the public gallery joined in, causing the parliament to be briefly suspended. Speaker Gerry Brownlee later described the behavior as "grossly disorderly". He took the very rare step of "naming" Maipi-Clarke and asking the House to judge her actions. Subsequently, the coalition government of the National, ACT, and New Zealand First parties voted to suspend Maipi-Clarke's membership, meaning she could not vote against the bill.

Brownlee ordered security to clear the public gallery and briefly suspended parliament as a result. Meanwhile, Māori Party co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi confronted the bill's proposer, David Seymour, while performing the Ngāti Toa haka. During the vote on the Treaty Principles Bill, the same parties voted in favor, which will send the bill to a select committee, which is expected to take six months to consider. Labour's Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson called the move a "six-month hate tour".

Jackson was later ejected from parliament for refusing to apologize to Seymour after calling the Deputy Justice Minister a "liar". Jackson stated he was relaying a "message" to Seymour from participants of the "Te Tiriti marches" in Auckland and said in parliament: "David Seymour, you are stirring up hate and misinformation in this country, you are bringing out the worst in New Zealanders, you should be ashamed of yourself, you are a liar." He refused to retract the comment, saying it was a message from the marches, and was subsequently removed from the House. Throughout the debate, Seymour came under immense pressure, and he was the only MP to speak in support of the bill. National and New Zealand First coalition partners said they did not like the bill but would honor their coalition agreement and support it at the first vote. He argued the bill would give everyone "tino rangatiratanga" (roughly meaning sovereignty or self-determination). He denied he was stoking racial division and said his mission was to empower everyone.

Following the debate, Seymour said the opposition and coalition MPs had not made any strong arguments against the bill. "I heard all sorts of abuse, hysteria, I saw haka, but I didn't hear any arguments," he said. He also said he had never seen the Speaker clear the entire public gallery in his decade as an MP. Senior MPs also said they could not recall such a moment in parliament, calling it an "unprecedented" day in parliament. "We respect their right to debate within the rules of parliament. They have to reciprocate. Otherwise, it doesn't work," Seymour said. "Some people have a greater right to block the rights of other people to be represented. That's a large part of what this bill is about, that we should have equal rights."

Tensions between the ACT and Māori parties reached a boiling point. During the debate, Ngarewa-Packer and ACT's Nicole McKee yelled at each other across the aisle. At one point, Seymour pulled McKee back, urging her to stay out of the altercation. In Waititi's speech, he likened the ACT Party to the Ku Klux Klan. He said that parliament had no right to redefine the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, arguing its power derived from the Treaty of Waitangi. He said, "Without the Treaty of Waitangi, this parliament has no meaning in Aotearoa." He also said only the signatories to the treaty, the monarch and hapū chiefs of Aotearoa, had the power to change Te Tiriti. Therefore, he questioned Seymour: "Tell me, David Seymour, which one are you?" He told coalition MPs they were "complicit in evil" and said the Treaty Principles Bill would cause harm. He said the bill was "euthanising the Treaty of Waitangi".

Given National had said they did not support the bill, Waititi said: "ACT is seen as the puppet master, running this country like the Ku Klux Klan." Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick said the bill was designed to oppress Māori. "When you are used to privilege, equality feels like oppression. That's what this bill is about," she said. Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon publicly opposed the bill. Speaking to reporters at a press conference before leaving New Zealand, he called the bill "divisive" and said it was a distraction. He said the bill oversimplified a complex issue. "You can't undo 184 years of debate and discussion with a simple bill, and I think this bill is very simplistic," he said. The Treaty Principles Bill is expected to return to the debating chamber in the first half of next year.