Three Maori MPs suspended from NZ parliament for haka

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Three Maori MPs suspended from NZ parliament for haka

New Zealand politicians have voted to enact record parliamentary suspensions for three MPs who performed a Māori haka to protest a proposed law.

Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, 22, received a seven-day ban and her colleagues from Te Pāti Māori, the Māori Party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, are barred for 21 days.

Three days had been the longest ban from New Zealand’s parliament previously.

Thursday’s vote followed hours of fraught debate in parliament.

Last November, Maipi-Clarke became a global viral sensation with her animated dismissal of the Treaty Principles Bill, ripping it up and performing the war dance with her Maori Party co-leaders.

The bill was a reform championed by the right-wing ACT Party to redefine the Treaty of Waitangi in law, stripping rights given to Maori at New Zealand’s foundation.

While the Treaty Principles Bill generated unprecedented protests across New Zealand, including tens of thousands marching on parliament, it did not become law.

The National party, led by Prime Minister Chris Luxon, agreed only to introduce the law – but not pass it – as part of a coalition agreement with the ACT party that allowed it to form government.

After months of public consultation and nationwide backlash, National and NZ First, abandoned their support.

with AAP

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