Bob Edlin: Waititi’s demand to “get on with it” presaged the sovereignty issue being aired....

Waititi’s demand to “get on with it” presaged the sovereignty issue being aired – and claims about the race card being played

It looks like the Government and Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi shared one objective last Thursday. Both wanted to bring an end to proceedings that determined the fate of the three Māori Party MPs who had performed a haka during the vote on the first reading of the Principles of Treaty of Waitangi Bill last November.

Louis Collins, in an RNZ report headed The House: A sentencing hearing in Parliament, observed:

Ani O'Brien: Racist or righteous? - Privileges Committee versus Te Pāti Māori

I have written many times before about narratives and the role of constructing the binary of good and evil in politics. This week we again see how storytelling is shaping a prominent political conflict with the race to own the narrative as the Privileges Committee hands down its recommendations. On the one hand, Te Pāti Māori has rushed to take the role of victims enabled by the other opposition parties and the majority of the media. They have run with accusations of racism and colonisation. On the other, the Government parties argue that the punishment for the trio of Te Pāti Māori MPs is simply fair consequences for breaking the rules of Parliament.

Mike's Minute: The vote today is for standards and rules

The debate around the Privileges Committee and their decision for the Māori Party MPs starts today.

It's set to be a long-winded and largely pointless exercise.

If you can be bothered, get a read on where each of the parties stand.

Why?

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Will we ever get order back into Parliament?

It sounds like Gerry Brownlee thinks that the Māori Party punishment is too harsh.

He started Parliament today with the Speaker's ruling and he dropped some pretty strong hints that he thinks that 21 days without pay for Debbie and Rawiri over that haka is too much.

He called the punishment very 'severe' and unprecedented because up til now, the harshest punishment has been 3 days, not 21 days.

David Farrar: Why contempt needs to be met with contempt

It is clear Te Pati Maori holds Parliament in contempt. I don’t just mean in the technical sense of breaching the rules of the House, but in the more general sense of behaving with contempt.

To publish the draft Privileges Committee report on the actions of three of their MPs on their social media feed is a provocation that should result in consequences.

Radio NZ reported:

David Farrar: Norm breaking should be condemned in NZ, not just the US

One of the major criticisms (which I share) is that Donald Trump has broken many of the norms of politics in the US, and he undermines institutional legacy.

In New Zealand, Te Pati Māori do the same. But their norm breaking is not called out to even a fraction of the scale Trump’s is.

Matua Kahurangi blogs:

DTNZ: Privileges Committee hearing to proceed without Te Pāti Māori MPs

The Privileges Committee chaired by Judith Collins will proceed with its scheduled hearing this afternoon, despite Te Pāti Māori MPs refusing to attend, citing a “denial of natural justice” and calling the process a “kangaroo court.”

The MPs argue that their request for a joint hearing, the inclusion of a “tikanga expert”, and representation by chosen senior counsel were unfairly denied.

Bob Edlin: Tākuta Ferris – chided by Shane Jones for delivering apology only in Maori....

Tākuta Ferris – chided by Shane Jones for delivering apology only in Maori – says his generation was born to agitate

Tākuta Ferris found to have misled the House…

That was the headline on a post by David Farrar on Kiwiblog yesterday after the Privileges Committee reported:

Cam Slater: Off to the Privileges Committee We Go

Speaker Gerry Brownlee has referred the behaviour of Julie Anne Genter to the powerful Privileges Committee, even as the Green Party says her behaviour won’t cost her any jobs.

Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Why Parliament’s rules matter

It could be easy to shrug away Education Minister Jan Tinetti’s referral to the Privileges Committee as just another example of a Minister not following the rules of Parliament. But its significance should be recognised in the fact it is only the second time since 2008 that a Member of Parliament has been referred to the committee.

The cause of the referral is the Minister’s actions but at the heart of it is upholding the integrity of New Zealand’s Parliament.