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RNZ News
19-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
More than half of voters back proposed penalty, or harsher, for Te Pāti Māori MPs, poll suggests
Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipa-Clarke at Parliament, after the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill in November. Photo: RNZ/ Samuel Rillstone More than half of voters consider the proposed penalty for three Te Pāti Māori MPs over the Treaty Principles haka to be either appropriate or too lenient, polling shows, ahead of the debate on the matter resuming on Thursday afternoon. That debate - which had potential to become a filibuster - was cut short when Leader of the House Chris Bishop unexpectedly postponed it last month. The Privileges Committee - which recommends punishments for breaking Parliament's rules - proposed a 21-day suspension for the co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and seven days for MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke. It means no pay, no ability to vote on legislation, and no presence in Parliament for the duration. The latest RNZ-Reid Research poll asked for voters' views on whether the punishment fit the crime. Overall, more people - 37.0 percent said it was "about right"; while 36.2 percent said it was "too harsh"; 17.2 percent said "too lenient", and 9.6 percent said they did not know: a 54.2 percent majority then backing the punishment or thought it should be stronger, in line with the coalition parties' view. The result puts opposition parties - which all labelled the three-week ban disproportionate - in a difficult position. Broken down by voting preferences, more than half of Labour's supporters (51.2 percent) backed leader Chris Hipkins' view the suspensions were too harsh, but a sizeable number thought the punishment fair (29.8 percent) or too lax (8 percent). Greens supporters were more convinced with three quarters (75.3 percent) calling the punishment too harsh, but still 12.4 percent said it was about right and 3.8 percent too lenient. Surprisingly, 9 percent of Te Pāti Māori's supporters also labelled it too lenient, although a clear 80.8 percent called it too harsh, with just 6.2 percent saying it was about right. The results for the coaltion voters were more predictable, far more National, ACT and NZ First supporters saying it was too lenient, compared to those calling it too harsh. But Speaker Gerry Brownlee, of the National Party, appears to be in the latter camp - he called the punishments "very severe" and "unprecedented" when setting down the original debate on Parliament's calendar. He pointed out no MP found guilty of contempt had previously been suspended for more than three days. The Privileges Committee recommendation was also only backed by coalition parties, despite convention dictating the MPs on the committee should aim for consensus. Those responding to RNZ's questions may have known these facts from media reporting - or they may not. Bishop's postponement of the debate took the teeth out of opposition criticisms the government wanted to keep the punished MPs from commenting on the Budget - as it turned out, the co-leaders did not speak in the Budget debate anyway. Budget delivered, MPs return to the debating chamber to discuss the punishment after Question Time today. The length of the debate rests ultimately in Brownlee's hands, and he has signalled a willingness to let it continue until all views were thoroughly aired. Whether parties actually want to filibuster - given the poll, and the risk of voters' patience for politicians talking about themselves wearing thin - is far from certain. Hipkins says a few of his MPs will speak, but they will not be running down the clock with endless speeches. The Greens' co-leaders have said they think the MPs should not be suspended, and they plan to scrutinise the decision "to the highest degree". But Te Pāti Māori is eager to put the matter to bed. "Just got to hurry up and get it over and done with and let's sort it out, otherwise we'll be hanging around here waiting and waiting and waiting. Just, they've made their verdict - let's just get it done," co-leader Rawiri Waititi said. This poll of 1008 people was conducted by Reid Research, using quota sampling and weighting to ensure a representative cross section by age, gender and geography. The poll was conducted through online interviews between 23-30 May 2025 and has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. The report is available here .
Free Malaysia Today
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
New Zealand parliament confirms suspension of Indigenous lawmakers
The three Te Pati Maori parliamentarians were suspended for acting in 'a manner that could have the effect of intimidating a member of the house'. (AFP pic) WELLINGTON : New Zealand's parliament agreed on historically lengthy suspensions for three Indigenous lawmakers who last year performed a haka, a traditional Maori dance, disrupting the reading of a controversial bill. A parliamentary privileges committee in May recommended the suspension of the three Te Pati Maori parliamentarians for acting in 'a manner that could have the effect of intimidating a member of the house.' The three performed the haka last November ahead of a vote on a controversial bill that would have reinterpreted a 185-year-old treaty between the British and Indigenous Maori that still guides the country's policy and legislation. The government voted through the suspensions, which will see Te Pati Maori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi stood down from parliament for 21 days, and representative Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke for seven days. While the members are suspended, they will not be paid or be able to vote on legislation. Suspending lawmakers is rare in New Zealand's parliament with only three members suspended in the past 10 years, according to New Zealand parliamentary services. Before today, the longest suspension was for three days, according to New Zealand representatives who spoke earlier in the day. Maipi-Clarke told parliament ahead of the vote that the suspension was an effort to stop Maori from making themselves heard in parliament. 'Are our voices too loud for this house? Is that the reason why we are being silenced? Are our voices shaking the core foundation of this house? The house we had no voice in building… We will never be silenced and we will never be lost,' she said. Judith Collins, who heads the privileges committee and serves as attorney-general, had previously told parliament that the haka forced the speaker to suspend proceedings for 30 minutes and that no permission had been sought to perform it. 'It's not about the haka … it is about following the rules of parliament that we are all obliged to follow and that we all pledged to follow,' Collins said. The opposition Labour party called for a compromise and proposed censure instead of suspension. Labour considers the suspension to be 'inconsistent with the fundamental nature of this democracy,' Labour parliamentarian Duncan Webb said today. 'This decision is wildly out of step with any other decision of the privileges committee,' said Webb. The haka was traditionally a way for Maori to welcome visiting tribes or to invigorate warriors ahead of battle. It is now performed at important events as well as ahead of matches by New Zealand's rugby teams.
RNZ News
07-06-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer on the longest suspension in Parliament
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii This week, Parliament took the unprecedented step of suspending both Te Pāti Māori leaders - Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi - for 21 days. Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was suspended for seven days - but had also been punished with a 24-hour suspension on the day over a haka all three had performed in Parliament, against the Treaty Principles Bill, in November. It is against the rules of the House for members to leave their seats during a debate - which all three did. Ngarewa-Packer told Saturday Morning that the 21-day suspension, which was seven times harsher than any previous sanction an MP has faced, was not proportionate. "I think the backlash from the public, nationally and internationally, validates that," she said. Previously, the longest suspension for an MP had been three days, given to the former prime minister Robert Muldoon for criticising the speaker in the 1980s. While New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the duration of the suspension would have been lessened if the Te Pāti Māori MPs had apologised, Ngarewa-Packer said that was never requested by the Privileges Committee. "What we have here is a situation where, and some are calling it Trumpism, we've been a lot more specific - we have an Atlas agenda that has not only crept in, it's stormed in on the shores of Aotearoa and some may not understand what that means, but this is just the extension of the attack on the treaty, on the attack on Indigenous voices. "We made the point the whole way through when we started to see that they weren't going to be able to meet us halfway on anything, even a quarter of the way, on any of the requests for tikanga experts, for legal experts when we knew the bias of the committee." Ngarewa-Packer added that the Privileges Committee process was not equipped to deal with the issue. "We hit a nerve and we can call it a colonial nerve, we can call it institutional nerve... "I think that this will be looked back on at some stage and say how ridiculous we looked back in 2025." Ngarewa-Packer also added that the language from Peters during the debate on Thursday was "all very deliberate" - "and that's what we're contending with in Aotearoa". "Everyone should have a view but don't use the might of legislation and the power to be able to assert your racism and assert your anti-Māori, anti-Treaty agenda." Peters had taken aim at Waititi on Thursday as "the one in the cowboy hat" and "scribbles on his face" in reference to his mataora moko. Rawiri Waititi. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii He said countless haka have taken place in Parliament but only after first consulting the Speaker. "They told the media they were going to do it, but they didn't tell the Speaker did they?" Peters added that Te Pāti Māori were "a bunch of extremists" and that "New Zealand has had enough of them". "They don't want democracy, they want anarchy," he said. "They don't want one country, they don't want one law, they don't want one people." Winston Peters. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
05-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Te Pāti Māori haka: A balancing act for Labour as National seeks end to controversy
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Analysis : More than six months after Te Pāti Māori's hair-raising haka protest in Parliament, the saga has at last come to a close - but it foreshadows further fault lines ahead. Government MPs endorsed the verdict as expected - a 21-day suspension for the co-leaders and seven days for Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke - after what was a fiery but fairly brief debate on Thursday afternoon. In the end, suggestions of a drawn-out affair - or a form of filibuster - came to nothing: after just three hours, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi called time himself. Inside the debating chamber, it was loud, fractious and sometimes ugly. Te Pāti Māori put up a defiant defence of its MPs' actions , enthusiastically backed by its friends in the Greens. All three individuals in the gun argued they had no choice but to act in the face of an attack on Te Tiriti. "I will not apologise for my actions," said Maipi-Clarke. "We will wear this unapologetically," declared Ngarewa-Packer. "We will not be silenced. We will not be assimilated. We will not be subjugated," concluded Waititi. The National Party all but ghosted the debate, with only Chris Bishop standing to make a brief contribution: "Let's end this issue once and for all... and get back to the major issues facing this country." Chris Bishop during the debate. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins It was a calculated non-engagement, a judgement that while many New Zealanders may be unimpressed with Te Pāti Māori's behaviour, they perhaps aren't enthused by politicians engaging in slanging matches either. Coalition partners ACT and New Zealand First showed no such qualms. With ACT's David Seymour abroad - taking part in the renowned Oxford Union debate - it was left to his colleagues Parmjeet Parmar, Nicole McKee and Karen Chhour to hammer Te Pāti Māori for "playing the race card", "bullying" and "stand-over tactics". NZ First leader Winston Peters unleashed a barrage of insults , at one point labelling Waititi an "extremist" with "scribbles on his face". And he levelled a warning to Labour about defending the minor party. "I hope that some sober, conservative, right-thinking Māori people in the Labour Party will wake up before it's too late," Peters said. "[Te Pāti Māori] has left middle New Zealand a long time ago, and the Labour Party is going to leave them hanging in the wind too." No doubt those comments were weighing on Labour MPs' minds as they challenged the punishment as "disproportionate" without endorsing Te Pāti Māori's rule-breaking. Four of its MPs spoke in yesterday's debate, arguing the penalty was excessive and a dangerous precedent. But they also gently chided Te Pāti Māori for its approach. Senior MP Willie Jackson suggested: "a sorry wouldn't go amiss." Senior Labour MP Willie Jackson Photo: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone And former Speaker Adrian Rurawhe cautioned: "When you come into this House, you swear the oath... you agree to the rules of this House. You can't have it both ways." Labour leader Chris Hipkins' recent comments also tell a story. Speaking to RNZ last week, he questioned Te Pāti Māori's choice of priorities, a line aimed squarely at centrist voters who might support Māori aspirations but baulk at Te Pāti Māori's tactics. The RNZ-Reid Research poll out this week also helps to explain Labour's caution. A clear majority of voters - more than 54 percent - said the 21-day ban was either appropriate or not harsh enough. Among Labour supporters specificially, that number was 38 percent. That is a sizeable proportion of voters, and a bloc Labour needs to hold if it is to have any hope of reclaiming government. The severity of the punishment is undeniable, unprecedented in scale, seven times longer than any previous suspension. Certainly, it is an uncomfortable image: a government using its majority to strip a minority opposition party of its voice in the debating chamber. Opposition MPs used their speeches to lay out a litany of past offences that earned milder rebukes: the infamous Trevor Mallard-Tau Henare punch-up among them. But, as with all comparisons, each crime is different in its own way. Government MPs point to Te Pāti Māori's repeated refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing, right down to the final debate. They argue the punishment is not about silencing dissent, but defending institutional integrity. On current polling, it is clear Labour will need Te Pāti Māori's support to form a coalition, and this week's debate should act as a clear illustration of the potential difficulty with that.
BreakingNews.ie
05-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- BreakingNews.ie
New Zealand parliament suspends three Maori Party politicians over haka protest
New Zealand legislators have voted to enact record suspensions from parliament for three politicians who performed a Maori haka to protest over a proposed law. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days. Advertisement Three days had been the longest ban for a politician from New Zealand's parliament before. The lawmakers from Te Pati Maori, the Maori Party, performed the haka, a chanting dance of challenge, in November to oppose a widely unpopular bill, now defeated, that they said would reverse Indigenous rights. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and Rawiri Waititi (Charlotte Graham-McLay/AP) The protest drew global headlines and provoked months of fraught debate about what the consequences for the politicians' actions should be and the place of Maori culture in Parliament. A committee in April recommended the lengthy bans. It said they were not being punished for the haka, but for striding across the floor of the debating chamber toward their opponents while doing it. Advertisement Judith Collins, the committee chair, said the behaviour was egregious, disruptive and potentially intimidating. Ms Maipi-Clarke, 22, rejected that description, citing other instances when legislators have left their seats and approached opponents without sanction. The suspended legislators said they are being treated more harshly than others because they are Maori. 'I came into this house to give a voice to the voiceless. Is that the real issue here?' Ms Maipi-Clarke asked parliament. Advertisement 'Is that the real intimidation here? Are our voices too loud for this house?' Inside and outside parliament, the haka has increasingly been welcomed as an important part of New Zealand life. The sacred chant can be a challenge to the viewer but is not violent. As Maori language and culture have become part of mainstream New Zealand in recent years, haka appear in a range of cultural, sombre and celebratory settings. They also have rung out in parliament to welcome the passage of high-profile laws. Some who decried the protest haka in Parliament cited its timing, with Ms Maipi-Clarke beginning the chant as votes were being tallied and causing a brief suspension of proceedings. She has privately apologised for the disruption to Parliament's Speaker, she said. Advertisement
