Three New Zealand Members of Parliament (MPs), Rawiri Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and Maiki-Clarke, face unprecedented suspensions after performing a haka in parliament. The action halted the voting process on a major government bill concerning the Treaty of Waitangi. Consequently, it has been used to impose heavy penalties—over $1 million dollars, the largest ever penalties levied on New Zealand parliamentarians.
The parliament’s privileges committee has suggested a three-week suspension for both Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi. In solidarity with the actions, Maipi-Clarke has been handed a seven-day suspension. The punishment for the three MPs includes loss of salary during this period. In addition to these changes and innovations, they will miss the next annual debate on their spending—set to occur on the senate floor next week.
Those planned suspensions are due to be confirmed by a vote during a special session of all legislators on Tuesday. The privileges committee found the actions of Ngarewa-Packer, Waititi, and Maipi-Clarke to be “a serious matter.” They thought that these actions would cause terror to their fellow legislators, and what’s more they were right — it was contempt of parliament.
Judith Collins, the attorney-general and chair of the privileges committee, had no mercy in upholding the seriousness of the breach. She stated, “Make no mistake. This was a very serious incident, the likes of which I have never seen before in my 23 years in the debating chamber.” Collins further described the punishment as “the toughest [the committee] had ever handed out,” calling it “the worst incident that we have ever seen.”
In doing so, it drew attention to the need for the Treaty of Waitangi bill. This bill represents a radical and highly controversial reinterpretation of New Zealand’s original compact among the Māori tribe chiefs and the British Crown. Poignant performance It was the performance’s timing, literally a moment, that made it so important. MPs were extremely disappointed that their rights and interests, as tangata whenua, were not respected.
Ngarewa-Packer expressed her stance regarding the performance, stating, “In a space debating our rights and interests as tangata whenua, haka was the only way to respond for the hundreds of thousands of our people being harmed.”
In response Te Pāti Māori has slammed the suspensions as “the most severe punishment ever delivered.” They argue that this move is an intimidation attempt to further threaten Māori representation in the House. The party underscored that these types of punishments are meant to intimidate everyone who opposes colonial power.
Privileges committee report found the proposed penalties were serious and warranted. In so doing, it resolutely condemned the behavior displayed during the haka as nothing short of unacceptable in a parliamentary discourse. “We acknowledge the severity of the penalties proposed. We intend to leave members in no doubt that the behaviour discussed is not acceptable and that the intimidation of other members of the house is treated with utmost seriousness,” it stated.
As this situation unfolds, it casts a spotlight on the intersection of Māori rights, political representation, and parliamentary decorum in New Zealand. The vote this summer will determine whether these unprecedented artist suspensions are allowed to take effect. This moment is a crucial junction in the nation’s legislative history.