The New Zealand Parliament was suspended after Maori members staged a haka to disrupt the vote on a contentious bill to reinterpret an 184-year-old treaty between the British and Indigenous Maori. The controversial legislation is seen by many Maori and their supporters as undermining the rights of the country’s Indigenous people, who make up around 20% of the population of 5.3 million.
First signed in 1840 between the British Crown and more than 500 Maori chiefs, the Treaty of Waitangi lays down how the two parties agreed to govern. The interpretation of clauses in the document still guides legislation and policy today. Rulings by the courts and a separate Maori tribunal have progressively expanded Maori rights and privileges over the decades. However, some argue this has discriminated against non-Indigenous citizens. The ACT New Zealand party, a junior partner in the ruling center-right coalition government, proposed a bill to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Waitangi treaty in law.
