Barbs are flying between senior Māori MPs after Parliament descended into chaos during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill when one of Te Pāti Māori’s new members was ejected from the House.
Government minister Shane Jones said Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, one of the youngest MPs in New Zealand history at 22, ought to be put in jail for walking up to Act Party leader David Seymour and performing a haka during the debate.
But Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi hit back about Jones’ past behaviour, saying he should consider his own questionable conduct while on official Government business before criticising others.
“When you’re using our Crown purchases to watch pornos, maybe that’s also a reason to go to prison,” Waititi said, referring to Jones having used his ministerial credit card to pay for pornographic films while staying at hotels in 2007 and 2008.
“Wake up, Shane, wake up. Look at your own backyard. Make sure you’re squeaky clean when it comes to representing our people,” Waititi said.
“He can go and have a shit, to be honest, and Winston Peters. Put that in your article.”
Waititi said Maipi-Clarke was doing what was culturally normal for her as Māori and said that, if other parliamentarians did not like it, “maybe you should think of leaving Parliament”.
Maipi-Clarke approached Seymour with her colleagues and co-leaders Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to challenge him over his Treaty Principles Bill.
She was “named” by Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee, one of the most severe and rare punishments MPs can face. She was suspended from Parliament for 24 hours, her pay was docked and her ability to take part in Question Time or votes in the House was removed.
Jones called the behaviour of Maipi-Clarke and her colleagues “threatening and ugly” and said it turned Parliament into a circus when he spoke on Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive show last night.
“Parliament has inherent powers to put people in jail and the way the Māori Party are carrying on, that seems to me quite the appropriate response,” he said.
“It turned into a circus with the Māori Party, in particular the young lady from Tainui,” Jones said, referring to Maipi-Clarke.
Former Speaker Sir Lockwood Smith told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast today that yesterday’s row was “as bad as I’ve ever seen the House”.
He said it was “really sad” to see that in Parliament.
“The whole standard of the place has been lowered in recent years. Once you start letting it slip, another inch happens, another centimetre.”
He argued that standards had been slipping in the House for a while.
“Parliament is meant to be where people we chose to represent us … They are meant to be the leaders of our communities. Parliament is the highest court in the land, our most respected citizens.”
He said Brownlee should not be blamed and he had “no choice” but to clear the House.
But Waititi said a haka was “a natural tool that we use to support our debate”.
“We will use every single tool that our Māori kete [basket] has to support any kōrero [conversation] we have in a debate or wānanga [discussion]. Haka is a natural tool we use to support our debate.
“If you can’t handle that, then maybe you should think of leaving Parliament.”
Waititi said Māori MPs should be able to conduct themselves in a way relevant to their culture.
“Wherever you are, you always go and be proud to be Māori. Use every Māori tool you have to support your kaupapa [cause].
“It’s a natural thing for us to use haka.
“We’re not in England. I understand, when in Rome do as the Romans, but when you’re here in Aotearoa? Buckle up.”
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
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