Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Did someone try to stop the Māori Party from hijacking Parliament?

It's happened again, unfortunately - the Māori Party has hijacked Parliament once again with a haka.

It played out like this:

Oriini Kaipara, who's their new MP replacing the late Takutai Tarsh Kemp, delivered her maiden speech because today’s her first day in Parliament. Afterwards, there was a song and the public gallery was involved. She stepped out of her seat into the aisle, onto the floor to receive the song.

As soon as the song ended, someone - sounded like it was somebody up in the public gallery - started a haka and she started to haka back.

From news reports I’ve read, one of the other MPs, Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, also started to haka.

Speaker Gerry Brownlee said, “Oh no, not that.”

He went on to say that was not the agreement that had been struck, but they didn’t stop, they basically ignored him.

He got to his feet, at which point the House is usually supposed to stop everything it’s doing and go quiet to allow him to speak, and they just completely ignored him.

He threw his hands in the air, he then suspended the House, walked off, and the camera feed cut.

He’s come back subsequently very unhappy about it, and I’m going to bring you up to speed on all of that.

Now, the thing is, though - before you get angry about it - don’t bother wasting energy on being angry at the Māori Party for doing this, because that’s akin to wasting energy on getting angry at an alcoholic for getting drunk if you put beer in front of them, or getting angry at a toddler for packing a tantrum if they’re tired.

This is what the Māori Party does, right? This is the stuff that they thrive on. They thrive on performance, they thrive on sticking the middle finger to authority, it’s basically what they would call their kaupapa.

I’m just surprised that Gerry Brownlee got hoodwinked so easily into making an agreement with them and thinking this wouldn’t happen. Or maybe he didn’t, or maybe someone in Parliament didn’t get hoodwinked, because it looks like someone was prepared for this.

As soon as that haka started, the camera never cut back to the Māori Party or the gallery. It stayed on Gerry, and as soon as he suspended Parliament, the feed cut.

Now, what that means is you never really see the Māori Party doing the haka or anyone doing the haka. You can just kind of hear it in the background, but you can’t see it.

That basically robs the Māori Party of the ability to do what they did previously - strip the crisp, professional parliamentary TV feed, put it on their social media, and hope the thing goes viral.

It’s not going to happen this time because that footage is not there for them.

Now, it is not ideal, obviously, having Parliament’s rules broken like this for obvious reasons, but it is not unexpected.

So I think, given all things, the best outcome may be the one that was achieved today - which is just a blackout.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's happened again. Unfortunately, the Malori Party has hijacked parliament

(00:03):
once again with a hucker. It played out like this
or any kaipit who's their new MP, who's replacing the
late tash Taka Takatai. Tash Camp delivered her maiden speech
because today's her first day in parliament obviously, and afterwards
there was a song and the public gallery was involved,
and she stepped out of her seat into the aisle
onto the floor to receive the song. As soon as

(00:24):
the song ended, someone and it sounded like it was
somebody up in the public gallery, started to hucker. She
started to hucker back. I think from news reports that
I've read that one of the other MP's Hanadraftzi might
be cluck also started to hucker. Jerry Brownlee, the Speaker,
said on no, not that, and he said that was
not the agreement that had been struck. But they didn't stop.
They basically ignored him. He got to his feet, at

(00:46):
which point the house is usually supposed to stop everything
it's doing and go quiet to allow him to speak.
They just completely ignored him. He threw his hands in
the air. He then suspended the house walked off in
the camera feed cut. He's comeback subsequently very unhappy about it,
and I'm going to bring you up to speed and
all of that now. The thing is, though, before you
get angry about it, don't bother wasting energy on being

(01:07):
angry at the Maori Party for doing this, because that's
a kin to wasting energy on getting angry at an
alcoholic for getting drunk if you put beer in front
of them, or getting angry at a toddler for packing
a tantrum if they're tired. This is what the Maori
Party does, right. This is the stuff that they thrive on.
They thrive on performance, they thrive on sticking the middle
finger to authority. It's basically what they would call their
co pappa. I'm just surprised that Jerry Brownly got hoodwinked

(01:31):
so easily into making an agreement with them and thinking
this wouldn't happen, or maybe he didn't, or maybe someone
in Parliament didn't get hoodwinked, because it looks like someone
was prepared for this. As soon as that hucker started,
the Cameron never cut back to the Maori Party or
the gallery. It stayed on Jerry and as soon as
he suspended Parliament. The feed cut. Now what that means

(01:51):
is you never really see the Maori Party doing the
hucker or anyone doing the huker. You can just kn't
of hear it in the background, but you can't see it.
That basically the Maori Party of the ability to do
what they did previously, strip the crisp professional parliamentary tvfe'ed,
put it on their social media and hope the thing
goes viral. It's not going to happen this time because
that footage is not there for them now. It is

(02:12):
not ideal obviously having Parliament's rules broken like this for
obvious reasons, but it is not unexpected. So I think
given all things, the best outcome may be the one
that was achieved today, which is just a blackout. For
more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news
Talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the

(02:32):
podcast on iHeartRadio.