Te Pāti Māori MPs Rawiri Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke were suspended for up to 21 days for breaching parliamentary conduct during a vote on the Treaty Principles Bill.
They interrupted a Parliamentary vote and advanced on ACT MPs; their actions were described as “intimidating”.
Yet, rather than apologise, the trio are planning a national protest tour, railing against what they claim is systemic racism.
Critics argue that it appears more like manufactured martyrdom and a refusal to comply with the fundamental expectations of democratic institutions.
Party president John Tamihere said “We’re not here to start a rugby game, you know?” insisting that bringing haka and tikanga into Parliament was non-negotiable: “We don’t do it because somebody says, ‘No, when you walk in that Parliament you’ve got to stop being a Māori,’ for goodness sake.”
As for an apology, Tamihere said that “the MPs would apologise once it was made clear what they would be apologising for.”
Waititi, who brandished a noose in Parliament during the debate, attacked Winston Peters, who had criticised his theatrics, saying, “I would be ashamed. If I were his mokopuna…”
Former party leader Te Ururoa Flavell described the suspensions as “very, very harsh and unfair” – yet admitted that “there are consequences of actions, both for better or for worse.”
Editor’s note: RNZ’s framing is misleading. The issue was not merely that Te Pāti Māori MPs performed a haka, but that they used it to disrupt a parliamentary vote, leaving their seats and approaching opponents in a way the Privileges Committee deemed intimidating. By portraying this as cultural expression alone, RNZ sanitises what was in fact a deliberate and confrontational breach of parliamentary norms, not a case of misunderstood identity.
Centrist Ltd.