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Only a few hours after the official opening of Parliament and the Maori party had already left, calling the Speaker of the House intolerant and pointing to the “tyranny” of the majority of Pākehā.
The two deputies and co-leaders of the party, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer left Parliament in its first session after the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Trevor Mallard, dismissed them.
It started when national leader Judith Collins was speaking.
Waititi raised a point of order in te reo Māori who wanted to participate in the debate, but Mallard rejected it.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Maori Party leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer leave the House of Parliament on the first day.
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Ngarewa-Packer said Mallard did not even allow the opportunity to translate what Rawiri said.
“It did not tolerate that we could speak in te reo, it was intolerant that we could complete the point of order.”
She said this is a taste of what they would face in the next term.
Waititi said that the party was continually being challenged, the party was not even receiving equal treatment.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Maori Party leaders, Rawiri Waititi, speaks after leaving the Houses of Parliament.
“The Maori Party has already been denied the opportunity to [participate] in the debate … kwe are silent in this organization…[which means] we have been silenced, we will not be silenced, we will not be subjugated ”.
He said that “the tyranny of our democracy for minority parties is absolutely disgraceful to be honest.”
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of the Maori Party, in Parliament.
Ngarewa-Packer said they were the only leaders who were not allowed to speak on the first day.
She said they followed all the rules, but were not allowed to complete the point of order.
Waititi came to Parliament after winning over the Waiariki Maori electorate, covering the Bay of Plenty and South Waikato. Ngarewa-Packer entered the list after the special votes were counted.
The couple arrived after the party lost all of its seats in the 2017 elections.
Mallard himself took the parliamentary oath just the day before with a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi in hand.
