This was not protest. It was petulance. These are elected MPs, not TikTok influencers doing a cultural flash mob. The chamber is for lawmaking, not half-naked theatrics and aggressive chanting masquerading as political speech. If a group of middle-aged accountants burst into a boardroom doing the Macarena over tax policy, they’d be sectioned. But slap the word 'haka' on it and suddenly we’re meant to stand in solemn awe? Bollocks.
Let’s get this straight: Parliament is not a bloody marae. It’s not a dancefloor, a church, or a safe space for tantrum-throwing grievance merchants. It’s the centre of the nation’s lawmaking and governance. It demands order, dignity, and at the very least, a working grasp of adult behaviour.
But no. These jokers decided to turn up and treat it like a stage for political theatre, waving their arms about and bellowing like fools mid-proceeding, and now they want sympathy? Please. This isn’t courage. It’s childish attention-seeking dressed up in feathers and entitlement.
The worst part? The media lapped it up. International headlines. BBC. Al Jazeera. The Times of India, for God’s sake. As if New Zealand has nothing better to showcase to the world than a pack of MPs making asses of themselves in what should be the most serious room in the country.
The world isn’t laughing with us. It’s laughing at us.
Judith Collins was right. Civility matters. Rules matter. If Parliament lets this sort of tribal performance art slide, we might as well turn the place into a circus and charge admission. Come one, come all - watch the children in suits stomp, pout, and dance whenever they don’t get their way.
Suspend them. Fine them. And if they don’t like the rules, bugger off and start a drum circle somewhere else.
Parliament is for grown-ups. These ones don’t qualify.
Tui Vaeau is a digital marketer with a background in real estate and security. Unmoved by the fashionable absurdities of modern politics, he stands for national cohesion and the principle that all New Zealanders should be treated as equals. His views are forthright, unswayed by ideological theatrics, and firmly grounded in reality.
But no. These jokers decided to turn up and treat it like a stage for political theatre, waving their arms about and bellowing like fools mid-proceeding, and now they want sympathy? Please. This isn’t courage. It’s childish attention-seeking dressed up in feathers and entitlement.
The worst part? The media lapped it up. International headlines. BBC. Al Jazeera. The Times of India, for God’s sake. As if New Zealand has nothing better to showcase to the world than a pack of MPs making asses of themselves in what should be the most serious room in the country.
The world isn’t laughing with us. It’s laughing at us.
Judith Collins was right. Civility matters. Rules matter. If Parliament lets this sort of tribal performance art slide, we might as well turn the place into a circus and charge admission. Come one, come all - watch the children in suits stomp, pout, and dance whenever they don’t get their way.
Suspend them. Fine them. And if they don’t like the rules, bugger off and start a drum circle somewhere else.
Parliament is for grown-ups. These ones don’t qualify.
Tui Vaeau is a digital marketer with a background in real estate and security. Unmoved by the fashionable absurdities of modern politics, he stands for national cohesion and the principle that all New Zealanders should be treated as equals. His views are forthright, unswayed by ideological theatrics, and firmly grounded in reality.
23 comments:
I disagree. I agree with the former speaker, Sir David Carter. They should have got more. Gerry has to up is game and bring back dress codes.
Excellent article, Tui.
You have GOT. IT. IN. ONE !!
I love you Tui!
Your words could be from my own mouth and I am part Maori.
Keep up the great work. Brilliant title too.
Well said. But I would have also made them re-swear allegiance to the crown upon return. They promised to follow the rules and uphold democracy which they have not. They have been elected by the NZ public and the public need to be sure they take the rules of parliament seriously.
Caution needed -never underestimate radical Maori's determination.
Brownlee's soft approach to TPM 's ban is instructed by Luxon/Potaka. TPM's disruption strategy could intensify till the 2026 election -- instructed by Tamihere. As intended, NZers are now divided: they despise or support or fear Maori's clear political agenda.
To calm tensions, exploring a written constitution might get support from all sides.....this could be the plan to advance He Puapua and tribal rule. We are witnessing a process.
Brownlee has gone out of his way to reassure the general public that the Maori Party will get a fair hearing. One would suppose most parliamentarians would be aware of the procedures so who is he virtue signalling to? Brownlee is such a disappointment. There are many other New Zealanders he could have championed over the last few years. We either have a democratic system of government whereby politicians represent all New Zealanders, or we do not. Winston stated in a video that some members come into the chamber with bare feet. Many on both sides of the house seem to be eating or chewing gum. Some look as if they have just got out of bed. Brownlee is responsible for standards. Another MP who talks a lot but is pretty ineffective.
Brownlee conceding it was okay to refer to NZ as Aotearoa in the House really got up my wick. What next Jerry, the former woodwork teacher!
Well said Tui, I assume their expense accounts will also be frozen.
Seeing the way this country is going I would not be surprised if they hadn`t.
3 weeks is not long enough,it should have been 1 year.
Our politicians are as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike,its time for a new and separate coalition made up of people who have common decency and common sense as prime traits.
Imagine,no greens no tpm and our country returned to us.
“Let’s get this straight: Parliament is not a bloody marae. It’s not a dancefloor, a church, or a safe space for tantrum-throwing grievance merchants. It’s the centre of the nation’s lawmaking and governance. It demands order, dignity, and at the very least, a working grasp of adult behaviour”.
I couldn’t agree more Tui, and that is why I blame the speaker of the house Brownlee for not doing his job of upholding said “civility”. He should have been suspended as well for dereliction of duty in not acting at the outset. Instead, by doing nothing, he opened the door for this “performance” to happen, and some would say, he let this “lack of civility” happen on purpose.
But then again, I consider parliament (stage) and politicians (actors) nothing but Kabuki theatre anyway.
A process called apartheid !!
The Speaker has proved himself incompetent, weak, woke and a fool. These TeaParty Moris need removing from parliament altogether!!!! They serve n o b o d y but themselves. I am told by MPs sitting nearby, their behaviour is perpetual... and not a sign on screen/press. The signed up membership too should be sent to do community service !
I couldn't agree more - this is petulance!!!
Every aspect of society is based on rules, conforming to social norms, consideration for others, as well as laws.
We must not give in to this petulance
To Doug Longmire
The process of installing tribal rule and a 2 tier society based on the ( so-called ) superiority of indigeneity - without any consultation with the people.
Maori will surely respond to the call for a hikoi or similar protest - but noone can be sure whether the 83% would rally in legitimate protest - or prefer to wait for the next election to express their view. Too many of the 83% remain ignorant of the gravity of events.
Maureen Pugh, West Coast-Tasman would make a good Speaker - calm, experienced and " her own person." (Now one of the Deputy Speakers.)
These childish antics are designed to draw attention by being promoted by our local MSM, and the international feeds off that , generally implying that Maori are being mistreated.
What it does underline is that we have gutless leaders who believe that continued appeasement will work.
Luxon, the world is looking at you and figuring it out that you are weaker than Trump.
Maureen is a good stable MP. Time she had a higher profile.
Maureen Pugh is probably not a good enough climate alarmist to suit Luxon.
SBS showed the haka as news. All so ridiculous. Next they will bring in weapons as their tribal right.
The existence of democratic society relies on a set of rules that reflects equality for all.
Respect for the rules is the price we pay to live in peace and harmony.
But in today’s New Zealand, this basic principle is being assaulted under the guise of cultural virtue by the Maori Party, whose parliamentary conduct has become less about representing constituents and more about rehearsing a grievance performance on repeat.
Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer do not simply disagree with the government. They disregard the entire institutional architecture of democratic deliberation. They are not engaging in protest within Parliament; they are protesting the very idea of Parliament, unless it capitulates to their worldview.
We are told, often by the mainstream media class marinated in postcolonial guilt, that such behaviour is brave. That it is “decolonising the system.” That it is, to borrow a phrase, “speaking truth to power.” But when speaking the truth requires no evidence, no rules, and no restraint, what we are watching is not bravery—it is vandalism dressed up in feathers and grievance.
What is truly insidious, however, is not the antics. It is the ideology behind them: a belief in cultural superiority, cloaked as historical justice. When the party declares that tikanga should override Parliament’s Standing Orders, they are demanding deference. When they say co-governance must supersede democracy, they are not balancing power—they are reordering sovereignty on the basis of race.
This is not equality. This is a caste system by another name.
What New Zealand is witnessing is not a revival of Indigenous dignity—it is the rebranding of tribal essentialism into public policy.
Worse still, these disruptive tactics are not merely tolerated—they are encouraged. A sycophantic media ecosystem, bolstered by government handouts under the Public Interest Journalism Fund, shields these actors from critique and amplifies their cause. They speak in the language of mana and whakapapa, but wield the tools of the campus radical: disruption, symbolism, and perpetual victimhood.
Democracy depends on reciprocity: the idea that we all agree to the same rules, even when we lose. When politicians abandon that principle, and insist that their culture entitles them to override it, they are not just undermining Parliament—they are undermining the social contract itself.
Let us hope voters will have the wisdom to see that, and the courage to say so.
Gla001, I liken Maureen Pugh to the little boy in the story The Emperors New Clothes. The only politician with the courage to call out this scam.
If you allow a clown into the palace, he does not become a king. The palace becomes a circus. Let’s keep the clowns out of parliament.
The following is a copy of a letter I sent to The Post (formerly The Dominion Post). I doubt it will be published. The photo was of the crowd in Parliament grounds on the day of the Privileges Committee debate. Photo was from the paper website not the Stuff website.
__________________________________________
The Post’s photo (Wed 21st May,Page 3) said much more about the Haka/Privilege issue than might have been intended. I initially thought of terms such as rent-a-crowd, histrionics, theatricality. All rather bland descriptives. Soon enough I arrived at a true descriptive. Cultural Terrorism. The haka has now been weaponised at all levels and is seen by many as the means to intimidate the wider culture and bludgeon it into some sort of submission to Maori ways and norms.
I don’t believe Maori culture will accept that the Privileges Committee is speaking on behalf of the democratic system and all of its supporting institutions. Finally, the haka should not have been allowed to achieve a place of ritualised prominence, or is that dominance. The haka ought to be removed from the public square and returned to the marae.
Fully agree. Time the haka was banned everywhere but marae. Its past its useby as tourist attraction. Just BULLYING made into lowest ignorant artform.
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