STORY: :: November 14, 2024

:: A New Zealand parliamentary committee recommends suspending three Indigenous MPs over 'intimidating' Haka

:: Judith Collins, Head, Privileges Committee

:: May 14, 2025

:: The MPs performed the haka before a vote on a bill to reinterpret a 184-year-old British-Maori treaty

“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. It is particularly unacceptable for Ms Ngarewa-Packer to appear to simulate firing a gun at another member of parliament.”

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:: Parliament will now vote on whether to approve the recommended suspensions

“So here we are at the crux of the matter. It is not the haka, it is not about tikanga, it’s not about the Treaty of Waitangi, it is about following the rules of parliament, that we are all obliged to follow and that we all pledge to follow. It does not matter our gender, our ethnicity or our beliefs, in this parliament we are all simply members of parliament and like any institution, it has rules.”

:: Wellington, New Zealand