Ma¯ori Party storms out of Parliament chambers
It was only hours after Parliament officially opened and the Ma¯ori Party had already stormed out, labelling the Speaker of the House intolerant and taking aim at the ‘‘tyranny’’ of the Pa¯keha¯ majority.
The two MPs and co-leaders for the party, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, walked out of Parliament in its first session after being overruled by Speaker of the House, Trevor Mallard.
It started when National leader Judith Collins was speaking. Waititi raised a point of order in te reo Ma¯ori seeking to participate in the debate but was overruled by Mallard.
Ngarewa-Packer said Mallard did not even allow the chance to have what Waititi said translated.
‘‘He was intolerant of us being able to speak in te reo, he was intolerant of us being able to complete the point of order.’’
She said this is a display of what they would be up against in the coming term.
Waititi said the party was being continually challenged – the party was not even getting equal treatment.
‘‘Already the Ma¯ori Party has been denied the opportunity to [participate] in the debate ... kua ngu¯ ma¯tou i roto i te¯nei o nga¯ whakahaere ... [which means] we have been silenced, we will not be silenced, we will not be subjugated.’’
He said the ‘‘tyranny of our democracy for minority parties is absolutely disgraceful to be honest’’.
Ngarewa-Packer said they were the only leaders not allowed to speak on the first day.
She said they followed all the rules, but they were not allowed to complete the point of order.
The Standing Orders in Parliament meant that new MPs could not speak twice in the session – in the case of the Ma¯ori Party MPs, first in their maiden speech then as leaders.
The party sought to suspend this rule, twice, unsuccessfully.