Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipa-Clarke was among those to perform a haka, at Parliament, after the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill, on 14 November, 2024. Photo: RNZ/ Samuel Rillstone
After a haka in Parliament in November, three Te Pāti Māori MPs were referred to the Privileges Committee. They've refused to turn up, igniting a debate about the role of tikanga in Parliament.
Three Te Pāti Māori MPs have two weeks to end their deadlock with the Privileges Committee over their refusal to front up at a hearing into their haka in November, or they'll face serious consequences.
They can't be sacked or imprisoned - the Privileges Committee tried to imprison someone once but they had nowhere to hold them. But they can be fined or suspended, according to former MP Peter Dunne, a former Privileges Committee member.
He says the committee will be treading carefully when it decides what action to take if the three MPs - co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke - again refuse to attend a last-chance hearing on 23 April.
"The committee is in an invidious position," say Dunne. "If it takes a hard line it's going to be criticised for going too far without the opportunity for Te Pāti Māori to present its case.
"If it takes a soft line because it doesn't want to inflame things further then it will be seen as weak and non-responsive when the original breach of privileges were raised."
Committee chair Judith Collins said she had never seen anything like it and used the word "serious" three times in one sentence to describe the three MPs' no-show last week.
They were called to the hearing after complaints were lodged with the speaker when they took part in a haka in Parliament in November during the vote at the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.
The speaker then referred the complaints of a breach of parliamentary rules to the Privileges Committee.
The three MPs' request to attend the hearing together along with an expert to explain the place of tikanga in Parliament was rejected and at the same time the hearing was due to take place the co-leaders held a press conference announcing they would hold their own independent hearing in May.
Dunne says the standoff goes much further than the haka incident. It is about a clash of traditions and protocols.
"This is an issue about Māori tikanga versus the parliamentary protocol and where those two fit, there's got to be a meeting point."
Former Māori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell says he does not understand the fuss.
"Why the big deal now? Simply because they were standing up to the Act Party over their piece of legislation. Other MPs have yelled across the house in the past, close to the tones of the haka but they did it in English. Nobody got stood down for that sort of stuff."
Flavell tells The Detail that the stand-off is inevitable as Māori Party MPs have been fighting for years for recognition of tikanga.
"We continually tested parliament rules because they are so Euro-centric, they are so unable to adapt and cope with a new Aotearoa that at least acknowledges Māori tikanga and how it can be carried out," he says.
"Yes there've been minor changes here and there, all off the back of us just going about and doing what we believe is tikanga in the House of Parliament but its always come with some challenges."
Another former Māori MP who did not want to be named told The Detail that there is nothing in the house that reflects kaupapa Māori or acknowledges Māori who work there.
"Absolutely, nothing," says Flavell. "That's why we tested it all the time."
He says the least that should happen is for the Speaker to enable a Treaty-based element that allows for tikanga Māori to have a place within Parliament.
Flavell says Te Pāti Māori is holding its own independent hearing into the matter to make a point about "the wrongs that have been put in the public arena".
"Is anything going to come of it? Probably not because it's independent, it's a report. Does Parliament have to listen to it? No. Is it an opportunity for the issues to be put in front of the public if the media are present? Yes. Will it make any difference in the end to how Parliament is run? Probably not."
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