Several MPs referred to Privileges Committee for haka reading of Treaty bills

Several MPs referred to  Privileges Committee for  haka reading of Treaty Principles  Bill.
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Four opposition MPs who  walked out of their seats as part of the haka at the end of  debate on the Treaty Principles Bill last month have been referred to the  Privileges Committee.
They are Te Pāti Māori MPs Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke and Labour's Peeni  Henare.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gerry  Brownlee, said the haka was  "disorganized and  divisive".
He said he  would not  comment on the  importance of  the haka and its place in the tikanga of the House, which was  another matter to be considered by the  House Rules Committee later in the  day.
Brownlee said he had received letters  on the matter from  New Zealand Prime Minister Shane Jones, National MP Suze  Redmayne and ACT MP Todd  Stephenson. He said he had already  "nominated" Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi Clarke  to lead the haka, saying  any MP should  take the matter  seriously.
Te Pati Maori  members perform a haka in front of  Acti Party members in Parliament during the first reading of the Treaty  of Principles Bill on 14  November.
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"Taking  any action to prevent  the completion of the vote is completely  unacceptable, however,  the nomination was the only action  I chose to take  in this matter.
"The letters  I have received  mention a number of members who participated in a haka in the House, and in particular four members who left their seats to stand on the floor of the  House, with three of those  moving on to seats  in another party.  This is disorderly and cannot be considered anything  but messy. "The issues of members leaving their seats to  engage in an activity that was disorderly and disruptive to the  business of the House  are matters that  need to be  examined in more detail. The House  can treat as contempt any  action that obstructs or  prevents the  House from carrying out its  functions."
He said it was therefore his decision  that the Privileges Committee  – the parliamentary watchdog  that has  members from all parties in Parliament and can  issue sanctions for  misconduct – should  examine the actions of Henare, Ngarewa-Packer, Waititi and Maipi  Clarke.
He also said he had received a letter from Ayesha Verrall  requesting a debate  on the latest health  force plan, as not  all announcements merit urgent debate  "even though the announcement may be  important".
"There must be such an element or urgency that the  issue takes priority over other  issues. I  believe this  request meets this threshold,  so the  request has been denied."
Deborah Russell had also  called for an urgent debate  to remove the humanities and social sciences from the Marsden Fund, but received the same  response. How did the haka  happen?
A haka  led by Te Pāti Māori  disrupted the vote on the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill last  month.
Opposition MPs and the public gallery  rose to perform Ka Mate,  while Hauraki Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke  rose to  express her Te Pāti  Māori vote against the  bill.
Brownlee, who had  been expressing impatience with a number of MPs for  his interference throughout the afternoon, then  adjourned the  session until the bells  rang again.
The video of Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke performing  "Ka Mate", and her subsequent suspension from the House, was widely  reported in the international  media.
Te Pāti Māori  co-chairman Rawiri Waititi said the response to the video, particularly from indigenous  people from other nations, had been  positive. However, ACT  chief David Seymour  believes the incident  has made New Zealand look bad  internationally and that  most New Zealanders  find it  "ridiculous".
The bill promoted by Seymour led to protests  across the country, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon himself calling it  "divisive".
In its negotiations with the coalition  government, ACT secured a commitment to  take the  project to committee stage, but no  further.
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