The Parliament of New Zealand approved the suspension of three members who made ‘Haka’, a traditional war dance of the Maori indigenous people during a session last year. According to the decision, published by a disciplinary committee on Thursday, were punished by “intimidation of the others” the deputies Hana-Rawhiti Maip-Clake of the Páti Getari (Maori Party) and the legend’s co-leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer; all of the maori ethnicity.
Maipi-Clake, who “pulled” the dance, will be removed for seven days, while Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer will be suspended for 21 days, the largest punishment ever given to parliamentarians since the founding of the Legislative House in 1854. The previous record was three days.
The dance, whose recording went viral on social networks, was made in November last year while discussing a bill that sought to redefine the founding treaty of the country with the people Maori.
The project was later rejected in vote, but generated protests across the country. During one of the text’s readings in Parliament, also in November 2024, a march made up of more than 40,000 people who crossed the country protested outside the Legislative House.
“We were punished for being Maoris,” said Ngarewa-Packer to the BBC. “We assume the stance of being Maoris without apologizing and prioritizing what our people need or expect from us.”
During the debate on the punishments, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters was asked to apologize for calling Te Pāti Māori a “bunch of extremists” and to say that the country “is already fed up with them.”
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The New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon rejected the accusations that the commission’s decision was “racist,” and added that the punishment was not about “Haka,” but about the party “not following the rules of parliament.”
Understand the discussion
New Zealand is internationally recognized for defending the rights and representativeness of indigenous peoples, but relations with the Maori community have recently been tense under the current conservative government led by Luxon.
The chancellor has been criticized for cutting off programs that benefit the original peoples, including plans to dismantle an organization aimed at improving health services for the community.
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Luxon, however, defended his government’s history in relation to Maoris issues, citing plans to improve literacy in the community and take children out of emergency shelters.
The bill that generated the protest of parliamentarians sought to legally define the principles of the Waitangi Treaty, a pact signed between the British crown and Maoris leaders in 1840 during the colonization of New Zealand.
Defenders of the measure, such as Act, a right -wing party that filed the text, argue that the 1840 agreement must be reinterpreted because it does not represent current multicultural society.
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Critics, however, say it is the proposed project that would be divisive and would lead to the dismantling of essential protections for the Maori people.
