'Me tū, me haka!': Te Pāti Māori MPs defend haka in Privileges Committee written submissions

Wednesday, 23 April 2025, 6:23 pm
Article: RNZ

Layla Bailey-McDowell, Māori News Journalist
Pokere Paewai, Māori issues reporter

Te Pāti Māori MPs say their haka protest during the Treaty Principles Bill debate was an expression of tikanga, not a breach of parliamentary rules - and they are standing by their actions.

All three MPs - Rawiri Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke - submitted individual written statements to the Privileges Committee but refused to appear in person on Wednesday, citing a lack of fairness and disregard for tikanga Māori.

They intend to continue with their own public hearing on 7 May.

Privileges Committee chair Judith Collins said the Committee have considered the matter and will be meeting again in the first sitting block to consider these actions further.

In a document provided to RNZ, the MPs argued that the haka was a form of constitutionally protected political expression and a response to what they called "the worst potential legislative breach of Te Tiriti in our generation" - a reference to the ACT Party's controversial Treaty Principles Bill which was voted down on its second reading, on 10 April.

Alongside their collective submission, the three MPs each provided individual written statements.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said in his written submission that four of his tīpuna signed te Tiriti at Te Kaha in June 1840,

"Koina taku here ki te Tiriti o Waitangi nā aku tīpuna mātua i te pō i waitohu i roto i te mana me te tapu o te iwi. Ki te rāwekeweke tētahi i te mana me te tapu o te Tiriti, kai rāwekeweke i te mana me te tapu o ngā mātua tīpuna i waitohungia, i tā moko ngia i te Tiriti," he said.

"He pērā tā David Seymour me tana pāti a ACT, he mea rāwekeweke i te Tiriti o Waitangi hai whakaiti i te mana o te Māori ki Aotearoa nei."

Waititi said other MPs also performed the haka because the government was tampering with te Tiriti and diminishing the mana of Māori in Aotearoa.

"Koina te waahi tika mō te haka. Ki te ngāueue te wairua ki roto i te tangata ki te puta i ngā riri, i ngā tauoro, i ngā whakahē ki tētahi kaupapa takahī mana, takahī tapu me tū, me haka!"

Waititi said he would not apologise for performing the haka and that he has long been using the haka in Parliament, including during his maiden speech in 2020.

"E kore awahau a whakapāha mō te haka, ko wahau te haka, ko te haka ko wahau!"

He also put forward a motion for the House to consider including a haka must be allowed in Parliament, Māori customs must be embedded in the Standing Orders and Speakers Rulings, and that all members of Parliament must be educated in Te Tiriti o Waitangi before swearing in.

"Me panoni te oati, me waihanga i tētahi mea hou kia whakamana i te Tiriti o Waitangi."

In her written submission, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said standing in Parliament as both a Taranaki wahine and MP during the Treaty Principles Bill debate felt like being "under siege".

"Not just politically, but spiritually, culturally, and generationally," she said.

"It felt like being surrounded by a sea of indifference - where our cries for justice were debated like ideology, our Treaty rights negotiated like currency, and our identity reduced to an economic inconvenience."

Ngarewa-Packer said tikanga is law - it reflects how Māori live, deliberate, and carry truth across generations.

"When government allows bills that politicise the legitimacy of equity, it denies the historical and ongoing causes of inequity to Māori. It pretends that colonisation never happened. It silences the very voices Te Tiriti was supposed to protect."

She said performing Ka Mate in the House was a response to injustice, "a declaration of identity", and an expression of political debate.

"I spoke with my body, my whakapapa and my wairua. It is how our tūpuna confronted wrongs. It is how we honour our departed. It is how my kuia resisted, united, and stood," Ngarewa-Packer said.

"To rise and haka in Parliament as a Taranaki wahine elected to stand for Māori is not a breach of decorum - it is an act of survival. It is tikanga. It is mana. It is truth. And the truth is we should never have been forced into a position to defend our treaty rights, that is the obligation on all governments, whether they like it or not."

Hauraki-Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke also stood by her actions and said while she accepted the haka disrupted the voting process, she "will not apologise" for performing haka.

She said her party met with Speaker Gerry Brownlee following the incident to explain the cultural significance of her actions.

"I explained to him that there was nothing personal between him and me. I understand the rules of this House, and I acknowledge them; however, on this day, this House did not acknowledge the laws of this land, Tikanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi."

Maipi-Clarke said she was representing the thousands of people who marched to Parliament in protest, and the more than 300,000 who made submissions - 90 percent of which opposed the bill.

She also questioned why she was called to the committee at all, given she had already faced sanctions.

"At this hui, my Co-Leader, Rawiri asked, and I quote, 'Will there be any double jeopardy in this? Hana-Rawhiti has already done her time.' The Speaker then replied, 'No, there won't be.'"

She described the Treaty Principles Bill as the culmination of a year of "detrimental bills" that have "devastatingly affected" Māori and said the debate about haka and tikanga missed the bigger point.

"My first words in Parliament were a maioha or traditional karanga. From then on, I haven't stopped articulating myself in my first language, Te Reo Māori… enacting my traditional customs and practices."

"I will not justify my forms of expression within this House. The bigger conversation is not the Bill itself or haka but how this House picks and chooses when they want to acknowledge Tikanga Māori, Te Reo Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi."

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