The New Zealand Parliament has voted to impose record suspensions on three lawmakers who did a Maori haka as a protest. The incident took place last November during a debate on a law on Indigenous rights.
New Zealand’s parliament on Thursday agreed to lengthy suspensions for three lawmakers who disrupted the reading of a controversial bill last year by performing a haka, a traditional Maori dance.
Two parliamentarians — Te Pati Maori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi — were suspended for 21 days and one — Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, from the same party — for seven days.
Before now, the longest suspension of a parliamentarian in New Zealand was three days.
As someone who is half-Maori this just embarrasses me. I don’t have a problem with people celebrating their heritage and culture just do it in a more appropriate time and place. I wouldn’t have a problem with Irish people celebrating the Saint Patrick’s Day just as long as they don’t do it during a meeting at parliament.
Seems like as valid a way to protest vile revisionism and cowardly pandering to a foreign monarch.
No it isn’t. If this was on the street then it would be fine but this was a place of law and order where if you don’t like something you talk about it like an adult. It was totally unprofessional and performative.
this was a place of law and order
Clearly not, given what was being proposed. This was a legislative attempt to reneg on existing agreements between the Maori People and the British State. It was wildly illegal and provoked an appropriately outraged response.
What the legislators were protesting was the legislative equivalent of a mugging. The exact opposite of law and order. ACT New Zealand’s delegates are lucky they got out of there with a bit of dancing. In other countries, that kind of blatant criminality is a hanging offense.
Governments change agreements all the time. There is nothing illegal or unlawful about that. Whether you agree with it or not isn’t the point. Just because somebody does something you disagree with doesn’t give you the right to throw a fit about it.
I’m eager to see how this community will support the conservatives when they loudly disrupt the debate chamber and silence the Maori members of parliament, now the precedent has been set that this is acceptable behavior.
This comment is unrelated to my position. (Which, for what it’s worth, is in favor of the Maori.)
Where i want congress to pick up the old tradition of thowimg raw chicken at each other
fragile ass white men
It is still a British colony. They need to ditch the British king Charles as fast as possible.
Yeah, because that’s it…
‘If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.’
Unpopular opinion but interruption is interruption no matter the form. I do agree with the native protest here but I wouldn’t read into this ruling too much as any governing body would take this position. Weak governing rule set creates these loopholes like the American filibuster which imo is a bug not a feature.
I can probably count a million little “traditions” that parliament follows that are based on Christianity and western colonial culture. But a haka is unacceptable
“a manner that could have the effect of intimidating a member of the house.”
Oh go fuck yourself. Can the haka be intimidating as hell? Oh god yes. But you should also be able to recognize the difference between active intimidation and a powerful protest. Especially when YOUR COUNTRY IS KNOWN FOR IT.
They saw it as a threat because they’re threatening the natives way of life and they’re scared of being in the shoes of the oppressed
What!? But that haka was awesome! How can you not enjoy that?
There are many enjoyable things that are not appropriate to do in parliament.
While I personally don’t see how performing haka is constructive to include in a debate about the bill, I think it’s unrelated to the discussion about what is or is not appropriate in the debating chamber.
not appropriate to do in parliament.
Seems like it functioned exactly as intended. Power to the People.
Burning down the houses of parliament would also suspend voting on the bill. Do the ends justify the means?
The bill is now suspended; is the strategy to keep performing hakas to continuously silence members of parliament? The risk is that the next time, when the opposition wants to influence a bill, they also create a circus in the debate chamber. That is not a democratic process.
I acknowledge the downvotes without any discourse. If you’d like to see how this actually unfolded, here’s some context.
I’m curious to see how proponents of this behaviour would support the other side of the aisle perform similar theatrics.
And, in 2025, the Pākehā keep deciding what happens to indigenous land and indigenous resources, without letting Maori have any voice in it. Toitū te Tiriti!
You expected more? She knew it was going to happen, she did it specifically so it would happen and history won’t look fondly in their bullshit suspension.
Racist fucks
I support the suspensions. If all the other members abide by the same rules except for these ones then it makes sense reprimand them for disrupting the duties of parliament. These lawmakers were elected to be the voice of the people they represent. If they’re not using their voice to explain why they oppose the bill or what their proposed alternatives are then they’re not doing their job. Screaming and tearing up papers is just annoying and wasting everyone’s time.
You are being downvoted because, whether you realize it or not, what you wrote is extremely racist.
These are Maori. It’s their land and their traditions, and they are being attacked for both by white, authoritarian colonists. It’s unacceptable.
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Just made it cooler. Didn’t even think that was possible
What about this? https://youtu.be/JddEXEJ8_S0
I love this guy! This is amazing! He should be there for when they return, make an entrance.
With all due respect to Maori people, these displays are annoying to watch, but I’m of the opinion that there shouldn’t be any religious displays in government proceedings.
At least until one of these supposed gods mskescan appearance.
You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Describing a haka as a religious display is completely inaccurate.
I’ve performed them at weddings, birthday parties, and before every rugby match. It’s a display of culture and history.
And yet, still annoying.
I’m glad it annoys you. You’re still fucking wrong.
I mean, personally I don’t really agree with people here saying this punishment is racism.
For me this falls into the same category as walking up to other members of parliament and yelling loudly at them, or breakdancing, or doing anything that disrupts the parliamentary process. I don’t think making exceptions for a Haka is reasonable. Parliament has these rules to ensure the room stays calm, collected and can do its work. The Labour party too believes some punishment is appropriate, though they suggested a censure instead.
Most articles refer to a previous suspension of 3 days, but I can’t find what that was for. I can’t judge if the severity of the punishment is therefore in line with precedent.
It should be mentioned, the bill they protested ultimately did not end up passing.
This comment right here is the essence of liberal thought
B…but much process! B…b…but muh decorum!!! Please abide the laws we set while we fuck you in the ass!!!
No honey, fuck you and your procedure. Instead of hiding behind a veneer of professionalism fuck off and fix the issue.
Liberals WILL always silence the downtrodden when they no longer play by their rules.
But that same procedure ended up defeating the bill? I’m not sure the protest really achieved much.
You can fight a bill like this in a 100 ways within parliamentary procedure. If they had announced the protest it would be allowed too I believe.
Protest is for when the procedure fails. But it worked just fine here.
Also, arguments about the protest aside, my main point was that it’s not racist to punish an unannounced disruptive protest, just because that protest happened to be a Haka.
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