David Seymour criticises Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke’s haka on eve of Treaty hīkoi’s arrival at Parliament

By RNZ

ACT leader David Seymour has spoken out on Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke’s haka in Parliament as a hīkoi against his controversial Treaty Principles Bill converges on Wellington.

The Te Pāti Māori MP was suspended for 24 hours and “named” for leading the haka during the first reading of the bill.

Seymour told reporters the haka “was designed to get in other people’s faces”, to stop the people who represent New Zealanders from having their say, particularly because those doing it left their seats.

The action was a serious matter, and if a haka was allowed one time, it left the door open for other disruptions in Parliament at other times.

Labour’s vote against the decision to suspend Maipi-Clarke from the House was an indication it thought such behaviour was appropriate.

People should be held accountable for their actions, Seymour added.

Asked by reporters if Seymour should speak to the hīkoi, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said his voice had already been heard, and described Māori feeling “a sense of betrayal”.

The bill should never have come into the House, she said.

A ferry carrying protesters from the South Island is now on its way across the Cook Strait as final preparations are made in the capital for Tuesday’s gathering at the Beehive.

In Wellington, commuters are being warned to allow extra time for travel, and add one or even two hours to their trips to work on Tuesday even as extra buses and train carriages are put on.

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