Treaty Principles Bill vote: How the fiery debate led to MP being suspended, another kicked out

Act leader David Seymour’s contentious Treaty Principles Bill passed its first vote in Parliament on Thursday, but not until after a fiery, impassioned debate that saw one Te Pāti Māori MP suspended, a senior Labour politician kicked out, and the entire public gallery cleared.
The House was temporarily suspended yesterday as the legislation – which would define the principles of the Treaty – was being voted on after Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke began a haka intended to challenge the Government over its support for the bill.
The party’s co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi also rose, and the trio approached Seymour and other Act MPs. In the gallery, members of the public, including Ngāti Toa representatives, joined in.
It prompted Speaker Gerry Brownlee, who had earlier warned onlookers from participating in the debate, to clear the gallery and suspend the House mid-vote.
About 20 minutes later, MPs filed back in to finish their vote on the legislation. But before they could do that, the Speaker named Maipi-Clarke for what he called “appalling”, “disrespectful” and “grossly disorderly” conduct. Government parties supported suspending her, while those in Opposition voted against.
Being named is one of the most serious – and rare – punishments in Parliament. The subsequent 24-hour suspension means the MP can’t take part in the likes of Question Time or votes. Their pay is also docked for the period of suspension.
Outside the House, Ngarewa-Packer said Brownlee had “stifled” opposition and the public, while the haka was about “challenging the Crown and making sure we are able to disrupt and show how te ao Māori is feeling about this disgusting Bill”.
Maipi-Clarke said, “This is all that I know, to be Maori”.
“We didn’t get the opportunity to challenge the bill as much as we would have liked to, through points of order, through speeches, through debates. We waited until the very last second, the last vote.”
But Seymour afterwards told the Herald he believed the scenes in the House proved Te Pāti Māori couldn’t argue effectively against his bill.
“If you’ve got a good argument and you can persuade people you don’t need to get up in their face. Making gun gestures and saying kino [evil], that’s the kind of people we’re dealing with.
“In a way, it tells me this is why we need to have this debate because there are now people who don’t believe that they have to respectfully listen to others and actually come up with a better argument.”
The fireworks came at the end of the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill, which seeks to clarify the principles so their meaning in legislation can be clearly interpreted. Supporting the bill at its first reading is part of the National-Act coalition agreement, but National promises it won’t back it any further.
In his speech, Seymour, the proponent for the legislation, said politicians had failed so far to articulate what the principles were.
“Nature abhors a vacuum, so Parliament’s silence has been filled by various court findings, tribunal reports and the government departments having a go at defining the principles,” he said.
“They have variously arrived at the Crown having a duty to partner with Māori to protect Māori self-determination, to consult and redress past wrongs. What all these principles have in common is they afford Māori different rights to other New Zealanders.”
He asked where else in the world would one set of people having different rights to another be accepted.
The principles in Seymour’s legislation include that the Government has the power to govern in the interests of everyone and everyone is equal before the law.
The legislation says the Crown recognises, and will respect and protect, the rights that hapū and iwi Māori had under the Treaty of Waitangi and Te Tiriti at the time they signed it.
However, if those rights differ “from the rights from everyone”, that principle will only apply “if those rights are agreed in the settlement of a historical Treaty claim under the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975″.
Seymour said the bill doesn’t threaten Treaty settlements and it also explicitly says it doesn’t rewrite the Treaty.
During Seymour’s speech, there were loud interjections from the Opposition, leading the Speaker to call for an end to the “barrage” and suggest some MPs were “seriously deluded” if they thought they were helping.
“Why is it so hard to listen to an argument before offering a rebuttal … some of the calling out is ridiculous,” he said.
Labour’s Willie Jackson spoke against the legislation, arguing it sought to “rewrite the Treaty” and overturn decades of understanding about it.
“The principles are clear. They’re clear. They’re about partnership, they’re about equity, they’re about active protection, and they’re about redress. Simple. Why does this offend this Minister so much?”
He said there had been significant opposition to the legislation from the likes of the Waitangi Tribunal and a collective of King’s Counsel.
“But still David Seymour persists with this disgusting piece of legislation. I said some time ago that he was the most dangerous politician in New Zealand, and that has come to pass.”
Jackson also took aim at National for backing the legislation at first reading despite the party’s admission that it doesn’t support it.
“Every single National Party member should be ashamed at the cowardice shown by the Prime Minister and this party… National are allowing David Seymour to launch a six-month hate tour.”
While the Speaker had to caution Jackson about some of his language, Brownlee’s main intervention came at the end of his speech.
Jackson delivered what he said was a message from the large hīkoi winding its way towards Wellington. Thousands have taken part in the march, which moved through Waikato on Thursday, in opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill.
“This is to you, David Seymour: you fuel hatred and misinformation in this country, you bring out the worst in New Zealanders, you should be ashamed of yourself, and you are a liar,” Jackson said.
Calling another MP a liar isn’t allowed in the House, and the Speaker called for Jackson to withdraw and apologise. The Labour MP wouldn’t, leading Brownlee to order him to leave – the first time the Speaker has taken such an action during this Parliament.
Jackson later said online that he would “not apologise for what is the truth”.
“David Seymour has continually misrepresented the Treaty. End of story, Kia Ora and Good night,” he said.
Waititi said in his contribution that Te Tiriti was “superior” to any person or law and was the document on which democracy in New Zealand was established.
“The only people who can make changes in an agreement are the parties who signed it,” he said, questioning which Seymour represented.
He said National MPs supporting the bill were “complicit in the harm and the division that this presents” and concluded by telling Seymour he would “see you next Tuesday” when the hīkoi reaches the capital.
National MPs also came under fire from Swarbrick, who has been calling for MPs to vote individually, rather than as a party.
“My question to MPs is: are you here to hold on to power at any cost or are you here to do the right thing? Are you here to listen to your conscience or are you here to give it all up on one of the most significant votes in this House in our lifetime?
“Because if you wear the mask for a little while, it becomes your face. We are what we do. If you vote for this bill, that is who you are and this is how you will be remembered.”
For their part, National MPs repeatedly said their support for the bill at first reading was the result of coalition negotiations.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said while it was true Parliament had never defined the principles, the bill “would simply set down its interpretation of the Treaty and then seek a majority of the public to confirm it in a referendum”.
“This is a crude way to handle a very delicate subject. With a wave of the wand, as it were, we would unwind more than 30 years of jurisprudence; winner takes all.”
Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon delivered his strongest pushback against the bill, labelling it “simplistic” and not helpful to a Government wanting to address issues like cost of living.
“The hard issues are in fact the hard things Kiwis are dealing with right now,” said Luxon.
“What they are dealing with is the cost of living, what they are dealing with is the threat of losing their jobs, what they are dealing with is rising crime, what they have been dealing with is an education system that is failing their kids.
“That is what the National Party is focused on. We are focused on dealing with the hard issues. Frankly, a Treaty Principles Bill that is simplistic, that hopes to rewrite a debate and discussion over 184 years through the stroke of a pen, is not the way forward.”
Luxon was absent from the debate on Thursday, flying off to Peru for the annual Apec forum.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office.