Key Points
- New Zealand MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke went viral after she ripped a bill and lead her colleagues in a Haka.
- The bill reinterprets the clauses in the Treaty of Waitangi, signed between the Crown and Indigenous Māori chiefs.
- Māori communities have launched a Hīkoi, covering 1,000 kilometres over nine days.
A video of New Zealand MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke went viral last week, shared globally by news agencies and even Hollywood star Jason Momoa.
In the video, she is seen ripping up a contentious bill and leading her colleagues in a Haka, causing parliament to be briefly suspended.
Maipi-Clarke, 22, is New Zealand’s youngest MP since 1853. She has already previously captivated the world, when she performed a Haka as part of her first speech to parliament in December last year.
The politician considers herself a proponent of the Māori language and hopes to be the voice of a new generation of young voters in New Zealand.
She has vowed to protect Māori rights and culture and is an advocate for using Indigenous knowledge and practices to address climate change.
She draws inspiration from her grandfather, Taitimu Maipi, a member of the Māori activist group Nga Tamatoa, and she is also a grand-niece to Māori language activist Hana Te Hemara.
The NZ Herald reported that her great, great, great grandfather was New Zealand’s first Māori minister in parliament.
The recent protest by Maipi-Clarke amplified the conversation about how New Zealand should honour its promises to Indigenous people when the country was colonised — and what those promises are.
The proposed treaty bill that Maipi-Clarke ripped up has triggered political turmoil and a march by thousands of people from the northern tip of New Zealand’s North Island to parliament in the capital Wellington, at the southern tip of the island, to protest against it.
Tens of thousands join the Hīkoi
Although the bill is not expected to pass, it has galvanised Māori communities to launch one of the biggest protests to advocate for the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi and Māori rights.
The Hīkoi, or communal march, started in the country’s far north and reached Wellington on Tuesday after nine days and 1,000 kilometres.
A hīkoi has travelled for nine days down New Zealand’s North Island, culminating at the capital Wellington. Source: Getty / Joe Allison
The Hīkoi culminated with a gathering of more than 35,000 people outside New Zealand’s parliament in Wellington.
Ella Henry, professor of Māori Entrepreneurship at Auckland University of Technology, said previous gains have put New Zealand at the forefront of relations with Indigenous people and the impacts of colonisation.
“Our concern about this bill not only is the way that it is trying to undermine some of that legislation by using very libertarian arguments that somehow there is inequality based on race and ethnicity, is hugely problematic,” she said.
“So we have gathered in our tens of thousands, not just Māori, but others who support an inclusive, diverse, equal partnership that our country has been a world leader in pioneering. Those are the people who are marching.”
What is the contentious bill proposing?
The proposed bill reinterprets the clauses in the 184-year-old Treaty of Waitangi, in Māori — Hīkoi mo te Tiriti.
The Treaty was first signed in 1840 between the British Crown and more than 500 Indigenous Māori chiefs. Considered New Zealand’s founding document, it lays down how the two parties agreed to govern, in two versions, one in English and the other in Māori.
The tribes were promised broad rights to retain their lands and protect their interests in return for ceding governance to the British.
New Zealand MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke performed a haka during her first speech to parliament. Source: AP / Mark Mitchell
However the English and Māori versions differed on what power the chiefs were ceding over their affairs, lands and autonomy.
Over decades, the Crown breached both versions.
The interpretation of clauses in the document still guides legislation and policy today, while the treaty also underpins claims of Māori sovereignty.
Earlier this month, ACT, a minor right-wing party in the ruling coalition, unveiled the bill — the Treaty Principles Bill — aimed at enshrining a narrower interpretation of the Treaty. It would set concrete definitions for the treaty’s principles and specify that those rights should apply to all New Zealanders.
According to David Seymour, ACT party leader, the purpose of the bill is to “give all New Zealanders equality before the law”.
While the bill lacks enough support to pass parliament, its introduction has sparked protests across the country and in parliament by those who see in it a desire to reverse decades of policies designed to empower Māori.
What is the main criticism of the bill?
Radio New Zealand reported in July that a group of licensed Māori translators have called the bill factually incorrect and misleading.
Twenty-seven translators signed an open letter to senior ministers and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and other senior ministers, saying that the bill was based on a “deeply flawed” translation of the Treaty and failed “international translation ethical standards”.
“None of the key concepts contained in the proposed principles are truly present in te Tiriti (Treaty of Waitangi). Instead, the proposed principles are built on additions, omissions and distortions of the original text,” broadcaster and editor Piripi Walker said.
With additional reporting by AP, AAP and Reuters.
