Peters calls out 'racist' Māori Party, says debate 'a sad day'

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters. Photo: RNZ
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says Te Pāti Māori MPs' behaviour performing a haka in Parliament in protest against the Treaty Principles Bill was unprecedented and "unforgivable".
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi will be suspended for 21 days, and MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke suspended for seven days, taking effect immediately, as punishment.
No MP has ever been suspended for more than three days before.
Speaking to Morning Report about Thursday night's debate on the punishment, Peters said: "I can't think of a more sad day in Parliament in recent times".
He said during the haka "...people were being intimidated and no circumstances no matter what you say it was unprecedented, unforgivable".
He questioned why Te Pāti Māori did not apologise.
"They had every chance at every point in time to just drop a line and say look we're sorry for what we did, as did Peeni Henare and others do that but no not them, they're unique, they say they represent Māori and they don't..."
Labour MP Henare, who also participated in the haka, didn't face suspension.
Henare attended the committee and apologised, which contributed to his lesser sanction.
Te Pāti Māori and the Greens say the punishment is racist, but Peters told Morning Report it was Te Pāti Māori who were racist.
On Thursday night Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said there had been many instances of misinterpretations of the haka in The House and said it was unclear why they were being punished, "is it about the haka... is about the gun gestures?"
"Not one committee member has explained to us where 21 days came from," Waititi said.
He said the haka was an elevation of indigenous voice and the proposed punishment was a "warning shot from the colonial state that cannot stomach" defiance.
Waititi said that throughout history when Māori did not play ball, the "coloniser government" reached for extreme sanctions, ending with a plea to voters: "make this a one-term government, enrol, vote".
He brought out a noose to represent Māori wrongfully put to death in the past, saying "interpretation is a feeling, it is not a fact ... you've traded a noose for legislation".
Maipi-Clarke said she had been silent on the issue for a long time, the party's voices in haka having sent shockwaves around the world. She questioned whether that was why the MPs were being punished.
"Since when did being proud of your culture make you racist?"
"We will never be silenced, and we will never be lost," she said, calling the Treaty Principles bill was a "dishonourable vote".
She had apologised to the Speaker and accepted the consequence laid down on the day, but refused to apologise. She listed other incidents in Parliament that resulted in no punishment.
Asked if he thought there was room for tikanga in the House, Peters said tikanga varies iwi by iwi, "whose tikanga will you support when you come to Parliament?"
Opposition parties tried to reject the recommendation of punishment, but did not have the numbers to vote it down.

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