Maori Party supports treaty in parliamentary oath

Mana Party leader Hone Harawira with supporters after he was thrown out of Parliament for refusing to give the correct oath. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Maori Party is renewing its push for the Treaty of Waitangi to be included in the oath for new MPs after Hone Harawira was booted out of Parliament for refusing to stick to the oath's wording.

Mr Harawira, the Mana Party leader who won the recent Te Tai Tokerau by-election, incurred the wrath of Speaker Lockwood Smith yesterday when he tried to pledge allegiance to the treaty rather than stick to the wording of the oath of affirmation to the Queen.

Dr Smith ordered him out, and said he could try again another sitting day.

Mr Harawira told reporters there was scope for the oath to proceed, but Dr Smith had chosen not to allow it to happen.

"The formal affirmation was the last part of the statement but I never got a chance to say it."

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia today said the incident had prompted the party to review legislative amendments it earlier proposed to include allegiance to the treaty in the oath.

Co-leader Pita Sharples introduced the proposal in 2006 and the following year the party introduced a supplementary order paper that would insert allegiance to the treaty into law.

"Our stance has always been that we believe that not only should the oath be able to be sworn in te reo Maori, as the official language of Aotearoa, but that we should also have the opportunity to swear allegiance to Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document of our land," Ms Turia said.

"I support the right of any member to pledge allegiance to Te Tiriti o Waitangi - it is, after all, the treaty that provides us with the foundations for our Parliament today."

Ms Turia has written to Dr Smith to seek his advice on how to move the proposal forward.

The issue would also be of interest to the constitutional review currently being led by Dr Sharples and Deputy Prime Minister Bill English, she said.

Dr Smith said yesterday Mr Harawira had been warned in advance that the law required the oath of affirmation to be taken in a set way as outlined by law.

"As Speaker I did not make this decision lightly, there has been a tendency in recent times to abuse our law."

The drama delayed parliamentary proceedings for more than 10 minutes, as Mr Harawira's supporters burst into waiata and MPs debated Dr Smith's decision to throw Mr Harawira out.

- NZPA