Unplanned haka halts New Zealand parliament after MP’s speech

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By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) -New Zealand’s parliament was suspended for a short period on Thursday when people in the public gallery broke into a haka, a traditional Maori dance, after the newest member of parliament for the Maori party finished her maiden speech.

Te Pati Maori’s Oriini Kaipara was elected to parliament in September to fill a vacant seat and made her first speech to the House on Thursday. Following the speech, members of parliament from across the house and those in the public gallery sang a planned and approved Maori song to celebrate her arrival. The public gallery then erupted into an unsanctioned haka and some members of parliament joined in.

Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee asked them to stop.

“No, not that. The guarantee was that would not be taking place,” he said. When they continued he suspended the sitting.

Parliamentarians and political parties must get permission if they or their supporters want to sing or perform haka in the public gallery.

Parliament later resumed and Brownlee said he planned to investigate whether any party or members of parliament had prior knowledge of the haka, describing the public gallery’s actions as contemptuous.

In June, three members of Te Pati Maori received historically lengthy suspensions for performing a haka to disrupt the vote on a contentious bill that would reinterpret a 184-year-old treaty between the British and Indigenous Maori. The bill has since failed to pass into law.

The haka was traditionally a way for Maori to welcome visiting tribes or to invigorate warriors ahead of battle. It is now performed at important events as well as ahead of matches by New Zealand’s rugby teams. 

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Kate Mayberry)