Claire Trevett: Parliament's great tie-breaker and why Rawiri Waititi got no support from Labour's Māori MPs

Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi wears his hei-tiki to Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It has transpired that few things are more polarising in Parliament than ties and the number of days in a week.

The issue over men and their ties was the first topic of conversation when MPs returned to Parliament.

Mallard had issued a ruling that neckties would remain in the dress code over summer after sounding out MPs.

He soon found out that was not the end of the matter at all.

The secondary issue was what constituted a tie.

When Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi arrived wearing a pounamu hei-tiki instead of a necktie, Mallard decreed it was not a tie and kicked Waititi out.

By the next day, Mallard had seen some sense. Previous Speakers had, after all, carved out allowances for people to wear hats and bow ties to Parliament.

On Wednesday, Mallard let Waititi get away with the hei-tiki. On Wednesday night, a meeting about the matter was expected to result in a formal backdown: but it would not be because Waititi found support from the Māori MPs in the Labour Party.

Many Labour MPs wear taonga themselves, both men and women, and with and without neckties.

But politics colours everything in Parliament, and that became clear when other MPs were asked to pick their sides on whether Waititi – and other Māori – should be able to wear a taonga in lieu of a tie.

Willie Jackson was once involved with the Māori Party, but in 2016 he turned to Labour and his mission became to drive the Māori Party out of Parliament.

He achieved that in 2017 when former Māori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell lost the last of the Māori Party's seats: Waiariki.

Jackson's victory was somewhat tarnished when Waititi reclaimed the Waiariki seat in 2020 and nobody tries to argue Jackson is a good loser.

In return, the Māori Party likes to be the thorn in the Labour MPs' sides – or the 'pebble in your shoe' as Waititi put it. Jackson's mission once again is to drive the Māori Party out.

So Jackson's response to Waititi's case was to play the man (or his party) rather than the ball.

He said "who cares?" and suggested Waititi should focus on something more substantive than his neck-ware. Peeni Henare's response was the same – and the MP Waititi beat in Waiariki, Tāmati Coffey, had a go at Waititi on Facebook.

All up, those MPs spent the same amount of time as Waititi talking about Waititi's neckware rather than the issues facing Māori.

Waititi's point was that he would be more than happy to get on with the issues – but he should not have to master a Windsor knot to do so. In short, cultural identity matters: and it should matter to Labour's MPs as well.

It barely needs saying that if it was a National Party Speaker laying down such a rule and a Labour MP's taonga, Jackson would be at the front of those crying foul.

Then came the second 'shoe on the other foot' issue of the week: Labour's use of Urgency for the first reading of a bill to remove the ability to force a public poll to veto Māori wards on councils.

Labour and the Greens have long decried the use of Urgency – rushing legislation through Parliament with minimal or no public submission process. However, it transpires that was only when it was a National Government using it.

National must have been delighted when it found out Labour was using Urgency for the measure: it gives it ammo to argue Labour's majority has made it arrogant.

The strongest debate was over the week allowed for a select committee to consider the law change before it returned to Parliament to pass into law.

Usually, legislation spends six months in select committee, so the decision to allow only a week for the Māori wards law change sparked quite the debate.

National MP Simon Bridges embarked upon arguing the week in question amounted to only five days.

The son of a preacher and a man of faith himself, he drew on the highest authority to state his case: God and the Creation.

He argued it was impossible to achieve anything in five days, and even God himself had not done so.

"The Good Lord, on the first day, created dark and light. On the second day, there was water and fish."

Alas, it has been some time since Sunday school for Bridges. He got the second day completely wrong and faltered at the third day.

He tried to get help from fellow churchgoer, Labour MP Michael Wood, and settled for summarising it as "animals and various other things".

He then skipped a few days altogether and went straight to the seventh day: "He rested."

Hansard has taken to recording the gestures MPs make in Parliament as well as the words. At one point, as National's arguments about the number of days continued, Hansard noted: "[The Hon Willie Jackson holds up two fingers]".

It did not specify whether the fingers were facing forwards or backwards.