Maori Party co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi. Photo / Mark Mitchell
By RNZ
The Māori Party's two MPs have walked out of the House in protest during Parliament's Address and Reply debate.
Under the rules, party leaders with more than six MPs get 30 minutes to speak and smaller parties only get the chance if time allows before the House rises at five.
However, because they are new MPs, if they spoke in the Address and Reply debate it would constitute their maiden speech, which are not scheduled until at least next week.
Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi tried to secure a speaking slot today based on a standing order that such decisions not discriminate against a minority party.
He told reporters he and co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer walked out after being blocked by Speaker Trevor Mallard.
"We decided that we didn't want to participate in a system that actually is based on being very unfair," Waititi said.
"The tyranny of our democracy for minority parties - it's absolutely disgraceful to be quite honest."
In a statement released to media, Waititi said: "We were shocked and deeply disturbed to learn that we would not have an opportunity, as all other party leaders had, to speak in the Address In Reply debate in response to the Prime Minister's agenda – the Speaker didn't even allow our Point of Order to be heard," said Māori Party Co-leader Rawiri Waititi.
"Our Māori people clearly expressed a view that their liberated, unapologetic voice should be heard, not suppressed. These rulings are offensive to us because they represent oppression of the tangata whenua voice.
"No other party can give an unapologetic Māori response to the Prime Minister's agenda."
Co-leader Ngarewa-Packer added: "This is yet another example of the Māori voice being silenced and ignored, something our people know all too well. We have walked out of the House to enable us to talk directly to our people about our vision and kaupapa as Te Pāti Māori.
"Despite following the rules of the House and seeking a suspension to the Standing Orders, we were still denied our ability to speak in this critical first parliamentary debate.
"It's unacceptable that we are being prevented from responding to the Prime Minister's agenda for the next three years – we are the only tangata whenua party in this place and our voice must be heard on the policies that affect us."
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