The explosive political aftermath of the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti was on full display in Parliament on Wednesday, with accusations and warnings hurled by Te Pāti Māori and New Zealand First during a testy exchange.
Police have estimated approximately 42,000 people attended yesterday’s protest, with attendees filling Parliament’s front lawn and surrounding streets in opposition to the Government’s policies towards Māori, primarily the Treaty Principles Bill.
But that number was countered by Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer during a heated debate in the House on Wednesday afternoon.
She said there were at least 70,000 people at the protest and believed police hadn’t counted children in attendance.
As she said this, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who had earlier been arguing across the House with Ngarewa-Packer’s co-leader Rawiri Waititi, yelled out: “Here we go, here we go.” Peters himself disputed the numbers yesterday, saying police estimates were too high.
Ngarewa-Packer said iwi had “every right to rise”, “be angry”, and “deeply hurt”.
“This Government has betrayed te iwi Māori. It has unleashed a wrecking ball through te iwi Māori. The Prime Minister has traded the mana of Te Tiriti, he has exposed our mokopuna to harm, to harm for a bill that he doesn’t even intend to support.”
That bill being referenced is the Treaty Principles Bill, which would define the principles in law so their reference in legislation can be clearly interpreted.
It is part of the National-Act coalition agreement, but National and New Zealand First have promised to only support it at its first reading. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has described that as a compromise needed during negotiations to form a Government.
While Act leader David Seymour, the steward of the legislation, has said it is meant to start a national conversation about the role of the Treaty in the country’s constitutional arrangements, opponents have called it simplistic and not reflective of the intent of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Ngarewa-Packer said tino rangatiratanga – meaning self-determination – wasn’t found in the bill, in New Zealand First, or “in that uncle” (this came as Peters continued to yell out at Ngarewa-Packer).
“Tino rangatiratanga is in you. Tino rangatiratanga is in me. Tino rangatiratanga is in our mokopuna. That is where tino rangatiratanga is. Anyone who tries to silence our mokopuna in this House will see the wrath of te ao Māori and the wrath of our tikanga.”
Immediately after Ngarewa-Packer’s speech was a contribution from Peters, who described the hīkoi as a recruitment tool for Te Pāti Māori. He said an organiser worked for Te Pāti Māori and was the son of one of its MPs – something Te Pāti Māori has been open about.
“The Māori Party just used and manipulated thousands of Māori yesterday for their own pointless political stunt,” Peters said.
“They staged a protest against a piece of legislation that they already knew is not going to pass into law. The faux outrage is obvious for all who see it for what it was. Their aim was to gather anyone and everyone no matter what their cause – including patched gang members.”
He described the party as one of “extremists” who didn’t want democracy, but “anarchy”.
The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti was raised by other MPs in the House. That included the Greens’ Steve Abel, who said it reflected a “movement of unity”, Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime, who called it a “beautiful demonstration of kotahitanga (unity), and New Zealand First’s Shane Jones, who echoed his leader in calling it a “carnival” with speeches “not befitting such an occasion”.
Jones said it was now time for Māoridom to go “back to the grindstone of life”.
“Put your hands on the plough, look after ourselves. Stop with these false expectations that somehow through a decoy, somehow through endless debates about the Treaty that work will emerge, investment will flow, security will be widespread, that comes from the sweat of thy brow.”
Standards in the House also continued to be the focus of debate off the back of Te Pāti Māori‘s Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke’s haka at the end of last week’s reading of the Treaty Principles Bill and the Speaker’s subsequent response.
While it’s been defended by Te Pāti Māori as a challenge to the Crown and part of tikanga, Peters on Wednesday called it a “sham haka”.
“It was a disgraceful pre-planned and co-ordinated stunt that served only to intimidate and undermine the running of the House and grab as many headlines as they could.”
Footage of Maipi-Clarke and other MPs performing the haka, including approaching Seymour, went viral around the world, seen hundreds of millions of times.
But Maipi-Clarke was also subsequently suspended for 24 hours by the Speaker, who called it “appalling” behaviour that disrupted the House as votes were being read on the legislation.
The Speaker is currently considering complaints about other MPs involved in the haka and has been asked by Jones to consider whether Parliament’s rules were up to standard. Seymour also submitted that social media attention had changed “the incentives for people’s behaviour” at Parliament.
Seymour told reporters on Wednesday that Te Pāti Māori’s actions presented a “challenge” as he believed they wanted to be seen as discrediting Parliament.
“They think their supporters will back them more if they behave dishonourably in the House, because their objective is to discredit the Parliament and they openly say they’d like to set up another Parliament.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he believed Parliament’s rules needed reviewing and it may be that harsher penalties are needed, but he acknowledged it was a decision for the Speaker.
“It’s important that we can actually have tough conversations where there are strong views and strong emotions on all sides of difficult conversations, but we can have those in a context where there are some good rules around having those conversations.”
He said other parliaments around the world “degenerate into absolute chaos because there’s no respect for those rules”.
The haka last week was “unacceptable” and “threatening”, Luxon said.
Ngarewa-Packer said it wasn’t the Speaker’s role to rule on tikanga, while Waititi agreed Parliament’s rules did need “to be tightened up”.
“But they also need to reflect tangata whenua,” he said. “Also needs to accept that tangata whenua have our own way of debating and using the tools we have, and haka is one of those.”
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.
