New Zealand lawmakers hold a haka protest in Parliament

STORY: :: Maori lawmakers stage a haka to protest controversial New Zealand indigenous rights law

:: 14 November 2024

:: Wellington, New Zealand

The ACT New Zealand party, a junior partner in the country’s centre-right coalition government, last week unveiled the bill, which aims to define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

First signed in 1840 between the British Crown and more than 500 Maori chiefs, it sets out how the two parties agreed to govern. The interpretation of clauses in the document still governs law and policy today.

The proposed bill passed its first reading on Thursday and will now be sent to a committee.

Hundreds have embarked on a nine-day march, or hikoi, from New Zealand’s north to the national capital Wellington in protest of the legislation, organizing rallies in cities as they move south.

The controversial legislation is seen by many Maori and their supporters as undermining the rights of the country’s indigenous people, who make up about 20% of the population of 5.3 million.