Treaty Principles Bill haka: Te Pāti Māori admits social media post ‘mistake’, tells Judith Collins ‘you’ve got us’

• Te Pāti Māori admits a social media post appearing to share part of a confidential report was a “mistake”.
• Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says no MPs were involved in posting it.
• Privileges Committee chair Judith Collins was “pretty shocked” at it.

Te Pāti Māori says it was a “mistake” to share a social media post about its ongoing Privileges Committee trial that chair Judith Collins expressed shock at.

The committee is expected to meet on Wednesday night to progress discussions about how to handle the three Te Pāti Māori MPs who performed a haka during the vote on the Treaty Principles Bill’s first reading.

Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says her party has “taken it quite light-hearted” and expects the committee will be “making an example of us”.

MPs of the powerful committee met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the matter, but ran out of time to come to a decision, leading to the Wednesday night session.

Ahead of yesterday’s meeting, Te Pāti Māori posted on Instagram a screenshot of what appears to be a Privileges Committee report that presented a potential adverse finding and options for potential consequences for its MPs Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke.

Collins at the time said that “is not something we’ve seen before”, “certainly not the sort of behaviour we expect” and the business of the committee should remain confidential until it is dealt with. She said she was “pretty shocked”.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, another member of the committee, said the social media post “shows their contempt for parliamentary process”.

Te Pāti Maori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo / Mark Mitchell.

On Wednesday, Ngarewa-Packer told reporters the party was aware the post “created a little bit of tension” for Collins.

“We acknowledge that no MP, including the co-leaders, were responsible for that. It is a mistake that’s happened internally which we’re reviewing.

“We had sent an apology to the chair to say ‘no, you’re right, you’ve got us on that and that was a mistake and we’ll review it’.”

Despite the admission the post was a mistake, it remains live on the party’s Instagram account at the time of publication.

As for Wednesday night’s committee meeting, Ngarewa-Packer said, “we’ve sort of taken it quite light-hearted”.

“We knew and we’ve always said that they were going to be making an example of us, so we are expecting some unprecedented sanctions and punishment,” she said.

“But there’s some things you’ve got to come in here and stand really strong for, and we won’t back down on what it is that we meant through the haka, and where tikanga fits in this place and this place hasn’t been designed to accommodate for us as Māori and include tikanga.”

The MP said this was an “ongoing battle of the cultures” and her party “will continue to front that”.

The party refused to appear before the committee, instead providing written submissions.

It said it would hold an alternative hearing on Wednesday, but delayed this when the House was put into urgency by the Government. Ngarewa-Packer said it would wait for Wednesday night’s meeting and then decide its next course of action.

The Privileges Committee meetings stem out of Te Pāti Māori MPs engaging in a haka during the Treaty Principles Bill first reading.

In its submission, Te Pāti Māori reiterated its concerns about how the Privileges Committee had allegedly denied several of the party’s requests, including appearing before the committee alongside a tikanga expert and legal counsel.

Following the haka, which went viral globally, Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee punished Maipi-Clarke by naming her in the House and she was stood down for 24 hours, which included her pay being docked.

In the submission, the party detailed how Maipi-Clarke and her co-leaders had spoken with Brownlee the next day. Maipi-Clarke said she apologised for “putting him in a predicament by disrupting the process” but didn’t apologise for her actions.

Labour MP Peeni Henare also engaged in a haka, but did not approach Treaty Principles Bill architect David Seymour as Te Pāti Māori MPs did.

 The Privileges Committee released a report in March finding he had engaged in “undoubtedly disorderly behaviour”, but it did not amount to contempt. He apologised in the House after the report’s release.

The legislation came back to the House last month for its second reading and was voted down.

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.