Māori Lawmakers in New Zealand Resist Proposed Bill With Haka ...

Māori lawmakers disrupted a parliamentary vote in New Zealand by performing a protest Haka on Thursday, to resist a proposed law that critics say would roll back the rights of Indigenous New Zealanders.

After being asked how she would vote in response to the proposed bill, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of New Zealand’s Māori party rose and began a Haka, a ceremonial Māori performance of a series of intricate movements and facial expressions. As she led the Haka, she tore a copy of the law in half. Members of the Labour and Green parties joined in in support of the Haka, as did some of the public seated in the gallery.

Gerry Brownlee, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, appeared to roll his eyes as the Haka began and eventually suspended the session of the House, and eventually, Maipi-Clarke was suspended for one day for her actions. Earlier in the same session, veteran Māori lawmaker Willie Jackson was ejected from the House telling the representative who proposed the controversial law, "You should be ashamed of yourself, and you are a liar.” Jackson refused to withdraw his statement and apologize.

The Treaty Principles Bill proposes reinterpreting the Treaty of Waitangi, an 1840 agreement guaranteeing the Māori certain land and cultural rights in exchange for granting the British governance of New Zealand.

Critics of the proposed bill say it will erode land and cultural rights, health care initiatives and cultural preservation efforts granted to the Māori people under the Treaty of Waitangi. David Seymour, a Māori lawmaker and leader of minor libertarian party ACT said on Thursday that, “What all of these principles have in common is that they afford Māori different rights from other New Zealanders.”

According to New Zealand’s 1 News, opposition leader Chris Hipkins said that just introducing the Bill was "effectively [undoing] decades worth of work to restore the relationship between Māori and the Crown" and was "a massive step backwards for New Zealand. And unfortunately, even if the Bill doesn't proceed beyond its first reading, the damage has already been done here," he said.

The Treaty Principles Bill is unlikely to pass. Still, thousands of New Zealanders marched toward Wellington to protest the Treaty Principles Bill. The protest is expected to be among the largest race relations marches in the country’s history.