Three Members of Parliament from Te Pāti Māori have been given another chance to turn up to a Privileges Committee hearing into their participation in a haka during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.
The Privileges Committee, chaired by senior National Minister Judith Collins, met today to consider the conduct of the MPs who joined in with the haka during proceedings in Parliament.
However, three of the MPs at the centre of the inquiry, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke didn’t turn up to the hearing.
The Te Pāti Māori MPs have claimed they were being denied natural justice, and called the hearing a “kangaroo court”.
The three, along with Labour’s Peeni Henare, were referred to the committee for their actions last November after Maipi-Clarke tore up a printed copy of the bill and launched into a haka. Act MP Todd Stephenson wrote a letter of complaint to Speaker Gerry Brownlee, who referred the matter to the Privileges Committee.
“In light of the members Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke’s nonattendance at the hearings scheduled for today, we considered how to progress the question of privilege,” a statement from the committee said.
“We are mindful of the seriousness of the matter and have accordingly decided to offer a final alternative date for the hearings of evidence to take place.”
That date was set at Wednesday, April 23.
“Each member is expected to appear at the hearing of evidence, or to provide written evidence by that date in lieu of his or her attendance,” the committee statement said.
“We expect the members involved to engage with the committee’s consideration of the question of privilege, as all others who have been referred to this committee have done.”
However, 1News understood the Te Pāti Māori members have decided to organise their own alternative hearing on May 7.
