Overview

• Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi will be suspended for 21 days and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke for seven days, losing pay and voting rights
• The MPs performed the haka last November during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill to oppose a proposed reinterpretation of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi
• A parliamentary privileges committee recommended the record-length bans after concluding the protest halted debate for 30 minutes and could intimidate fellow legislators
• Opposition Labour and Green MPs criticised the sanctions as disproportionate and pushed for censure instead, while the Māori Party accused Parliament of silencing Indigenous voices
• Several lawmakers have called for rewriting parliamentary rules to formally recognise Māori cultural protocols for protests and ceremonial acts