Te Pāti Māori is fiercely condemning an “ugly and sad” debate that led to three of its MPs receiving the harshest penalties in Parliament’s history despite warnings from the Opposition it could set a precedent for governments to come.
The chaotic hours-long debate on Thursday evening included almost constantheckling, name-calling, Rawiri Waititi brandishing a noose and Winston Peters making “disparaging” remarks about Waititi’s moko for which he apologised.
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have been suspended from Parliament for 21 days, and MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke for seven days, effective immediately. This means the MPs will not be able to cast votes, speak in the House or participate in other parliamentary business.
Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipa-Clarke has been suspended from Parliament for seven days over a haka performed after the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill in November. Photo / RNZ
Before today, the longest suspension in Parliament’s 171-year history was three sitting days.
The already once-deferred debate was expected to go into the next sitting block in a few weeks but the parties decided to vote on it tonight, bringing the months of uncertainty over what punishment the trio would face to an end.
She expected the trio would remain busy over the next three weeks away from the House co-ordinating submissions opposing the Government’s Regulatory Standards Bill.
Waititi highlighted NZ First leader Peters’ criticism of tā moko, saying his description of their Māori face tattoos as scribbles was “ugly and sad”.
“What makes it even sadder is that it comes from somebody who has whakapapa,” he said of Peters.
“I feel sorry for him that his internalised racism and internalised colonisation can take him to that type of rhetoric.”
In a message to supporters, Waititi said: “We must continue to hold on to the taonga of our ancestors – whether it be haka, whether it be moko, whether it be our reo, and not to allow old colonialist views that we are anything or anybody less than anybody else.”
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi have each been suspended from Parliament for 21 days. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The near-constant tit-for-tat heckling was almost brought to a stop when former Speaker of the House and Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe spoke with authority on the issue and urged National and Te Pāti Māori to find a solution. Rurawhe even stopped his speech to condemn heckling from his own side of the House.
Parties may think they are winning by speaking to the people that support them, but there are no winners – “none, especially not this House”, Rurawhe said.
The Privileges Committee was a committee of Parliament and not of the Government, he said.
“It is demonstrably clear to me that it is the Government that is punishing the members today, not the Parliament.”
If it were Parliament, there would be bipartisan support, he suggested.
It was a “dangerous precedent” not to have that bipartisan support from the Privileges Committee.
Labour MP and former Speaker of the House Adrian Rurawhe stopped his speech today to condemn heckling from his own side of the House. Photo /Mark Mitchell
Governments of the future will feel free to use the Privileges Committee penalties to punish their opponents if this goes forward, he said.
He implored Te Pāti Māori to think about how apologising may go a long way and to think about their long-term strategy.
Former co-leader Tariana Turia had never missed a vote and spoken on every bill, he said. The party had an opportunity to have a “huge legacy” into the future.
Act MP Nicole McKee said the issue was not about the haka, but about process and “grandstanding at the expense of this House”.
It was about being “ignorant and arrogant”, McKee said, adding that one did not have to agree with every law but Parliament had a process to disagree.
As McKee spoke about unifying the country, Waititi said it was her party dividing it.
Tākuta Ferris, a Te Pāti Māori MP who was not facing sanction, said the debate was not about the haka, a suspension or an interruption of a vote, but the fact “this House continues to ignore” Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori sovereignty.
Ferris told the House he was the uri (descendant) of Ngāti Kahungunu and the son of Ngāti Kuia and was fully authorised to speak on their behalf. He declared to the House: “We enact the right to retortion and hereby suspend our ongoing agreement and consent to Te Tiriti o Waitangi for a period of 21 days.”
Act MP Karen Chhour said she hated “the anger” coming out of the debate. When she was elected to Parliament, she felt a burden of what it meant to represent New Zealanders in the House.
