By Lucy Craymer
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A New Zealand government committee on Wednesday recommended three Indigenous lawmakers be temporarily suspended from parliament following the performance of a haka during the reading of a contentious bill last year.
The Privileges Committee recommended that co-leaders of Te Pati Maori, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, be suspended for 21 days, while Te Pati Maori representative Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke be suspended for seven days for acting in “a manner that could have the effect of intimidating a member of the house.”
The report found that while both haka, Maori ceremonial dance, and song are not uncommon occurrences in parliament, members were aware permission from the speaker was needed beforehand unless they were performed during their speech.
Parliament now must vote to approve the suspension. The vote is expected to pass with the support of the ruling conservative coalition.
The recommendations come after the three members and opposition Labour Party Pene Henare performed a haka ahead of a vote on a bill that would have reinterpreted a 184-year-old treaty between the British and Indigenous Maori last November.
Ngarewa-Packer is also alleged to have made a hand gesture similar to a finger gun and simulated a firing motion.
The bill has since failed to garner sufficient support to become law.
Te Pati Maori in a statement on Instagram said the proposed punishments were the strongest ever handed down by the committee.
“When Tangata whenua (Indigenous people) resist, colonial powers reach for maximum penalty. This is a warning shot to all of us to fall in line,” it said.
Judith Collins, a ruling lawmaker who heads the Privileges Committee and serves as attorney-general, said it was highly disorderly for members to interrupt a vote while it was being conducted.
“The right to cast one’s vote without impediment goes the heart of being a member of Parliament. It is not acceptable to physically approach another member on the floor of the debating chamber,” Collins told a press conference on Wednesday.
Te Pati Maori had refused to go before the Privileges Committee but did provide a written response, saying it was appropriate “to rise and haka to express anger and opposition to a subject that is abusive and denigrating.”
Henare appeared before the privileges committee earlier this year and apologised to parliament.
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer in Wellington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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