It took some time, but the New Zealand Parliament has taken action against the three Maori Party members who pulled off their ridiculous stunt on the floor of parliament last year.
In case you missed it:
It was what might be called a "Haka-surrection" on the floor.
And the leaders of this movement, which did prove politically successful since the bill failed, are being punished.
New Zealand legislators voted Thursday to enact record suspensions from Parliament for three lawmakers who performed a Māori haka to protest a proposed law.
That law was one that would have provided equality to all citizens (the Māori enjoy special privileges).
Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke received a seven-day ban and the leaders of her political party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, were barred for 21 days. Three days had been the longest ban for a lawmaker from New Zealand's Parliament before.
As noted, these are the longest suspensions ever dealt out in New Zealand's parliament.
A committee of the lawmakers' peers in April recommended the lengthy punishments in a report that said the lawmakers were not being punished for the haka itself, but for striding across the floor of the debating chamber towards their opponents while they did it. Maipi-Clarke Thursday rejected that, citing other instances where legislators have left their seats and approached their opponents without sanction
Yeah, shouting, wailing, chanting, and getting in the face of your interlocutors on the floor of the chamber is, at best, inappropriate and in this case - with a native war chant designed to intimidate - it was obviously meant as a threat.
In the end, I'm sure the three members involved are okay with the suspension, considering they got their way in preventing the anti-discrimination bill from passing.
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