New Zealand’s parliament was suspended on Thursday after lawmakers from the Maori Party tore up a copy of a controversial bill on tribal rights and performed a traditional war chant in the legislature.
For nearly two centuries, the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi has guided relations between New Zealand’s native Maori people and its white settlers. The treaty promised the natives that they would keep their lands and customs in exchange for accepting British rule, and has since been interpreted by parliament and courts to guarantee the Maori a broad range of rights – including hiring quotas and financial reparations.
The libertarian ACT party, part of the country's governing coalition, has argued that that the treaty discriminates against non-Maori people, and has put forward a bill that would dramatically narrow its interpretation.
During a vote on the bill on Thursday, Maori Party MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke tore up a copy of the legislation before breaking into a Haka, a traditional Maori war chant. Maipi-Clarke’s colleagues rose from their seats and joined in the chant, as did opposition lawmakers and spectators in the gallery.
Unable to quiet the shouting MPs, Speaker Gerry Brownlee cut the hearing short and suspended Maipi-Clarke from parliament for a day.
Despite the Maori Party’s opposition, the vote passed and the bill will now proceed to a public consultation process. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon opposed the bill, but his National Party voted to support it under the terms of an agreement signed with ACT last year. The National Party is the largest faction in New Zealand’s coalition government, with ACT and New Zealand First serving as junior partners.
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