Politics

[ysabetwordsmith]

Haka erupts in Parliament before Treaty Principles Bill passes first reading

With the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti only halfway to Parliament, ACT leader David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill has gone through its first reading.

During the count of votes for and against the bill, Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke stood up from her seat starting a haka directed at Seymour, which her colleagues and MPs from the Greens and Labour joined. When people in the public gallery above joined in loudly, Speaker Gerry Brownlee suspended Parliament for an hour until the gallery was cleared.


Now I'm just envious. That was an awesome display of communal action.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

and a VERY effective way of making their point!

I like New Zealand, they seem to 'get it'.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I was impressed with unity. They all understood what a haka was and, once it started, how to join in. Like how Native Americans understand communal drumming. One person flips over a bucket and starts hitting it and then several more join in the beat and someone starts chanting.

... modern Americans don't really have things like that.

Re: Yes ...

[siliconshaman]

Nearest us Brits get is everyone knowing how to form an orderly line and wait...

You know, there's something profound about this observation. It says something about how atomised modern society is, and how we just don't have that sense of community...

[lone_cat]

I think the politest thing said was at the beginning, which was translated.