The debate might result in parliamentary rule changes later this year.
Te Pāti Māori said last night it expects to learn today what punishment will be suggested by the Privileges Committee for three of its MPs after last year’s dramatic haka on the Treaty Principles Bill.
Te Pāti Māori had intended to host its own “alternative independent hearing” on thematter, but has postponed this, citing the unexpected decision to put Parliament into urgency on Tuesday.
Te Pāti Māori MPs Rawiri Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke were all sent to the Privileges Committee after they left their seats in the House to perform a haka as a vote was taken on Act leader David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill.
Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke performs a haka in Parliament during debate on the Treaty Principles Bill. Photo / RNZ
More than a century of haka
Haka and tikanga have a long history in Parliament.
The earliest record of a haka at Parliament that the Parliamentary Library could find was in 1915 - although there may have been some that were even earlier.
A story published on October 8 of that year in Wellington daily, The Dominionreported that Parliament‘s old upper house, the Legislative Council chamber, was used to host a visiting group from the Cook Islands. There, three MPs “danced a haka with great enthusiasm”.
The three MPs were Āpirana Ngata, Charles Parata and Taurekareka “Tau” Henare (great-grandfather of former-NZ First MP Tau Henare and Labour MP Peeni Henare, one of the four MPs sent to the privileges committee for last year’s haka).
The Legislative Council was not sitting when the haka occurred.
It is not clear when the first haka was performed during an actual sitting of Parliament.
Research from the Parliamentary Library observes whether early Hansard staff, the people responsible for writing down what occurs in the House, knew how to interpret different aspects of Māori culture - they did not know exactly what they were watching or how to record it.
“It is possible that instances of the haka being performed in the debating chamber were not recorded if the meaning or significance of the haka was not clear or well understood,” the Library research said.
The arrival of Treaty Settlement legislation in the 1990s saw Parliament‘s rules adapted to allow for more free-flowing debates.
These often conclude with waiata from the public gallery and MPs sometimes address people in the gallery too. There has been plenty of controversy. Waiata and haka may only be performed from the gallery if prior notice has been given to the Speaker.
Changes agreed on by the Standing Orders Committee are then adopted.
Recently, this has included a discussion about better reflecting tikanga. It is likely that the stand-off with Te Pāti Māori could lead to big changes in the Standing Orders for the next Parliament.
Te reo Māori in Parliament
The first Māori MPs were elected to Parliament in 1868, after the establishment of the first Māori seats. That year was also the year of the first recorded parliamentary speech in te reo Māori, which was made through an interpreter.
These first MPs spoke te reo Māori - in some cases, almost exclusively.
According to NZ History, some early Māori MPs had very little working knowledge of English - while others wanted to make a statement by speaking their first language.
Other MPs had different motivations for speaking te reo.
Tapihana Paraire (Dobbie) Paikea, who represented the Northern Maori seat from 1943 to 1963, used te reo to send messages to his wife, who was listening on the radio.
Sadly, many of these early speeches are lost, as they were not recorded in Hansard.
However, from 1881 to 1906 speeches in Māori were printed in Nga Korero Paramete, a Māori version of Hansard.
By the 1880s, Parliament had three interpreters for Māori members’ speeches and for translating other House business. Two interpreters were put into the lower house, and one was put into the Legislative Council, the old upper house.
The interpreters had some trouble when MPs wanted to use colourful language.
It is claimed the interpreters softened some of this language in translation.
One MP refused to have his words changed, so he repeated the offending phrase several times and then knocked the interpreter over an adjacent seat when an accurate translation was not forthcoming.
In 1913, Ngata spoke te reo Māori without an interpreter to obstruct parliamentary proceedings.
After a scrap with the then-Prime Minister William Massey, the Standing Orders were changed to make it clear that while MPs had the right to ask for an interpreter, they could not speak te reo Māori in the House without one present.
The rules were changed in the 1930s to allow MPs to speak te reo Māori but only if what they said was brief and they gave an immediate translation.
Despite these changes, there does not appear to have been a great deal of te reo Māori spoken in the House and where it was spoken, it tended to be in short speeches.
The longest speech was given by Southern Māori MP Eruera Tirikatene in 1951, which was 503 words.
Almost all other recorded Māori usages for this period were less than 100 words in average length, according to the paper.
Should the rules be changed again?
The Privileges Committee looks set to recommend a pretty hefty penalty to the three Te Pāti Māori MPs in trouble - the MPs’ refusal to even appear before the committee will only aggravate things.
The next step is what happens when the Standing Orders Committee begins to review the rules for the next Parliament.
Will it decide to be more accommodating of tikanga - and how will this be balanced against other MPs’ rights?
The Act MPs the haka was performed to might have felt their own rights to expression - and to not be intimidated in the chamber - were infringed upon by the haka.
Labour MP Willie Jackson told the Herald Parliament‘s rules need to evolve to allow for the at-times spontaneous nature of Māori culture, such as haka - although within some limits.
“There has to be some sort of general consensus that there has to be some space given to spontaneity. That doesn’t mean you can jump up every five minutes and do a haka.
“It requires the Speaker of the House to be a bit liberal sometimes and the reality is the House can be liberal in terms of Pākehā tikanga.
“You can’t just cherry-pick and say ‘it‘s just a haka after a Treaty settlement bill’. It has to be where the Speaker knows, now and then there will be a haka.”
Act leader David Seymour during the second reading debate on the Treaty Principles Bill. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Act Leader David Seymour said that the breaches of Parliament‘s rules risked undermining the democratic norms that had made New Zealand successful.
“We have to broaden and lengthen our perspective.
“We are one of the most successful societies in human history and one of the very few that has ever secured basic human rights for everybody under a democratic Parliament practising a rule of law – I think we have come to take that for granted.
“What possible purpose does it serve the public interest to do a ‘war dance’ jumping up and down in front of somebody using choreography designed to intimidate, and making gestures like shooting a person with a pistol?” he said.
Former Mana and Māori Party MP Hone Harawira said that sometimes breaking the rules was necessary to make a point.
“[Haka] is a really important part of our world and the way through which we express ourselves. There is no question about the validity of haka as a way to make a political statement.
“If you are a Māori MP, you present your case in Parliament as you feel most appropriate. All we have to do is not look at the rules, you have to look at your heart and ask yourself ‘what is the right thing to do?’.
“Once you know what the right thing to do is, and most Māori do, then do that,” Harawira said.
NZ First‘s Shane Jones said Te Pāti Māori’s haka had to be dealt with “very judiciously”, calling it “Smurf politics”.
He said not every rule and convention in Parliament was necessarily perfect, but Parliament had its “own culture and mana” that was equally important as marae protocol.
“I think the real offence that has to be dealt with, is if you are going to deploy haka and rhetoric and theatre, how do you do it in such a way so you are not ruled as being unruly or bringing the house into disrespect or being seen to intimidate other MPs?
“Because that is a slippery slope and it invites retaliation.”
- Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
- Thomas Coughlan is the NZ Herald political editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the Press Gallery since 2018.
