Four MPs have been referred to Parliament’s Privileges Committee following last month’s haka which interrupted voting on the Treaty Principles Bill in the House.
They are Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, and MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke. Labour MP Peeni Henare has also been referred.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee said he received letters from three MPs about the incident, which happened during the vote on the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.
The Speaker had previously named and suspended Maipi-Clarke from the debating chamber for 24 hours, after she led the haka on November 14.
He said, “taking an action to prevent votes being completed is completely unacceptable.”
“The letters I’ve received name a number of members who participated in a haka in the house,” Brownlee said this afternoon.
“In particular, four members who left their seats to stand on the floor of the house – three of those members advancing towards the seats of another party.
“That is disorderly and cannot be considered anything other than disorderly.”
During the vote, Maipi-Clarke began the haka by ripping a copy of the legislation before she, along with Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi, approached ACT leader David Seymour.
Brownlee added: “I do not make any ruling in this decision about the appropriateness of haka and its place inside the tikanga of this house. That is a matter for the standing orders committee and will be discussed at a meeting later today.
“However, the issue of members leaving their seats to participate in an activity – that was disorderly and disruptive to the procedure of the house – is something that should be considered further.”
The MPs who wrote to Brownlee were NZ First’s Shane Jones, National’s Suze Redmayne, and ACT’s Todd Stephenson.
The Bill eventually passed its first reading but is unlikely to progress further, with National and NZ First saying they won’t vote for it at second reading.
