Suspending Shame

Anger, absurdity, solidarity, and sadness.

Mighty river
Hear that rushin' sound
Oh, oh, yeah
Cool, clear water
Lay my burden down

Awa rearea
e kuhī ana
Wai aroha
Turakina ki raro rā

Songwriter: Don McGlashan.

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Suppose a group of indigenous politicians in the US or Australia stood in their place of representatives and performed a traditional challenge in the face of present-day injustice being piled upon historic unfairness.

In that case, many of us might feel sympathy for the position taken by the Native American or Aboriginal politicians.

Then imagine that the governing majority decided to impose the harshest ban on those MPs in the history not only of their country, but of the entirety of modern parliamentary democracy.

You’d be bloody outraged, wouldn’t you?

Sickened by the same old colonial supremacy riding roughshod over the rights of the first people of that land. I don’t think many people would hesitate to call that what it was, which is racism, pure and simple.

It is no different here, of course, and yesterday in parliament we saw a great injustice. One that went far beyond the crime of standing and performing a haka. One that sent a message saying, “We don’t want to hear you,” “This is our house, not yours,” and “Know your place.”

Those are the messages I heard from our government yesterday. From our coalition of cowards, with not one of their MPs having the guts to offer support or vote against a punishment that was so far out of proportion it reads like something from Victorian times, not Aotearoa in the 21st century.

A government who have now drawn a hideous line in the sand that says, forget the old ways of consensus where this house was run with non-partisan justice in the interests of all members. Forget that, we have now fully transitioned to what we see in the US.

A system of hyper partisanship where our side is always right and theirs is always wrong, and if we have the numbers, we do whatever we want, silence whomever we like, because might is right, and that is how parliament shall be.

Anger

I cannot recall ever being as furious watching parliament as I was yesterday when Parmjeet Parmar, the ACT Party prosecutor and select committee member, who wanted to explore imprisonment options for Te Pāti Māori, was speaking. I found myself shaking in anger; she was utterly vile.

If you want to watch her speech, you can do so here, but please don’t throw your phone or computer out the window:

Parmar appears to have a particular obsession with Māori and has led ACT’s charge to ensure that initiatives such as study groups or places for Māori are banned. For example, this was just last week:

The invitation is for a study group, which will provide kai, and explains that the session is not intended to exclude others but to foster culturally safe spaces for learning and growth.

Now you and I may think this is harmless, or even quite a positive thing, but in ACT’s view, we must always be treated the same with no acknowledgement of race or our nation of origin, we are all identikit Kiwis.

Which makes for quite breathtaking hypocrisy when we scroll through Parmjeet’s tweets a little further to this:

So, just to be clear, Parmjeet actively supports a subset of shopkeepers of a specific race working together, but vehemently opposes a group of Māori students meeting for a practice exam.

Are we following the logic here as to which group Parmjeet doesn’t want to see supported?

Let’s try another couple:

There you go, a safe space for Māori or Pasifika is “a dangerous perversion of ‘inclusive’ values” - whatever the hell that means. Whereas celebrating and supporting Indian success in New Zealand is all good:

Gee, Parmjeet, you’re making this not very subtle at all. Indian support networks - all good, Māori ones all bad. Speaking of the absurd…

Absurd

If Parmar was ghastly, then Winston Peters was just bonkers. He ranted and raved about the DNA composition of opposition members, and in an act far more offensive to many, I’m sure, than the performance of a haka, talked about Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi having scribbles on his face.

That’s the same sort of shit Nanania Mahuta used to get with online trolls calling her “barcode face”. To see it from a senior member of the house was shameful. Unlike the clip of Parmjeet Parmar, this one is well worth watching:

Willie Jackson got up and said of Winston's speech, “Oh dear, that wasn't the best, was it?” It sure wasn’t.

Solidarity

One bright aspect of yesterday was the close solidarity among the Greens, Te Pāti Māori, and Labour.

It was good to see Ricardo Menendez March rise to defend Te Pāti Māori from a false accusation by Simon Court. Similarly, Labour’s Ingrid Leary backed up a claim by Chlöe Swarbrick that National MP James Meager had been making pointing gestures at her. It was disturbing to see how easily both Court and Meager were willing to lie to the Speaker.

Marama and Chlöe spoke incredibly well for the Greens, and on a day of great shame in our parliament, I felt very proud of the party that I support.

Mark said: “Marama is on fire - tika and steadfast all the way - she is speaking truth to power!”

“A partisan flex” is what Marama called the judgment, an entirely accurate assessment. This is the end of her speech:

“The next generations will take such pity on us, grasping our pearls in this place, lest Māori be Māori in here. One day, someone's going to look in the Hansard and hang their heads in shame or ridicule, looking at what we are doing, the absurdity of the penalties for doing the haka in this place.

I want to state clearly: the Greens call out this blatant power play that is on display, that is parading in disguise at upholding process. These dangerously precedent-setting, convention-destroying, consensus-ignoring, Tiriti-trampling, racism-whistling, democracy-mocking, narrowly supported recommendations from the Privileges Committee bring this House into more disrepute than any haka ever has.”

On a day when I struggled to find much to praise government MPs for, Barbara Kuriger did a good job as deputy speaker as National and ACT MPs sought to shut Chloe down. This is the end of her fine speech:

“No evidence washes with this Government. Indeed, the needs and the wants of the people outside of these halls of power, it does not wash with this Government. And what we are left with, at the end of the day, is that it is crystal clear who they work for, and it is not the regular people of this country.

Because as they consistently show us, they have utter disdain for regular people's engagement and participation in the likes of our select committee processes, and, in fact, at times, they'll refer to them as "bots". The haka is celebrated by this place when it is convenient. But the haka is a challenge, it is a reflection, and it is the lore of this land.”

Sadness

Then Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke took her turn, and what a speech it was. From the moment she began by saying, “Are our voices too loud for this house?”, the other words spoken previously seemed inconsequential by comparison.

As reader Josephine noted: “Hana's kōrero in the house during this debate was stunningly beautiful. Hana spoke with strength and mana during such a challenging time for her, Debbie and Rawiri.”

I thought it was an incredibly powerful and moving speech, and I urge you to watch it if you haven’t already:

The Verdict

Despite the well-spoken words and the blatant partisan injustice of what was proposed, we all knew that it would pass, and each of the three suspensions was confirmed.

With each vote, there was one fewer vote opposed as each of the three MPs was suspended and silenced.

From left, Rawiri Waititi, Hana Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii.

Paddy said: “Wonderful, eloquent, heartfelt speeches. Though I expected the result, I thought maybe, just maybe, somebody would be prodded by fairness and their conscience. I was devastated by the eventual vote.”

The last word today goes to Te Pāti Māori, who said the following:

“Parliament has sent a message to our mokopuna that their Māori identity is a threat to New Zealand’s democracy. We reject the mischaracterisation of our haka as contempt and intimidation. Our MPs acted with integrity, on behalf of our people, in defence of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Te Pāti Māori holds Parliament in contempt. This Government’s unprecedented attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi required an equally unprecedented response. We will never recoil from our fundamental oath to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the mana of our mokopuna.

We stand firmly on the promise we made to the 100,000 who marched for Te Tiriti and the 300,000 who made submissions to the Justice Select Committee. Our tipuna endured muskets, land wars, and being beaten for speaking our reo; a 21-day suspension is nothing on their sacrifice.

We do not ask for sympathy; we ask for your participation: The Regulatory Standards Bill is the greatest threat to Te Tiriti o Waitangi of this generation. Flood the select committee with submissions. Turn this moment into power and make this a one-term government.”

So, there you go - something constructive you can do. If you haven’t already, submit your entry on the RSB. However, please make sure that you tick the box that says, “I am not a bot” - you’ll find it on David Seymour’s forehead. Permanent markers are best.

How do you feel about the three Te Pāti Māori MPs being suspended for three weeks, or in Hana’s case, one week, on top of the suspension she has already completed?

I think it was a racist disgrace by a group of MPs, grimly holding on to a colonial past that no longer exists - and neither should it.

To end today - Hollie Smith / Don McGlashan with Bathe in the River / Kōrukutia.