Hikoi focus switches to debating chamber

11.45am

Maori protesters are expected to pack Parliament's public galleries today when the Foreshore and Seabed Bill is debated for the first time.

Marchers yesterday put on a colourful, noisy and largely good natured display when the hikoi, estimated at 10,000-30,000 marchers, reached Parliament.

However, no jeering or spitting will be tolerated under Parliament's strict debating chamber rules which do not allow disruptive behaviour in the galleries.

The Government is standing firm in the face of intense opposition to the legislation from a broad range of conservative and radical Maori spread across many iwi.

The bill will pass its first reading after a two hour debate because New Zealand First is putting its 13 votes behind it, giving the Government a comfortable majority.

Prime Minister Helen Clark went to NZ First to ensure she had the numbers after two of her Maori MPs, Tariana Turia and Nanaia Mahuta, said they would oppose it.

Today they will vote against the Government for the first time.

Mrs Turia was stripped of her ministerial portfolios because of her stand, and has since said she will leave the Labour Party and resign from Parliament on May 17.

Ms Mahuta is refusing to commit herself to the Labour Party in the long term and is considering her future amid speculation she will follow Mrs Turia and quit Parliament.

Yesterday Helen Clark did not meet the hikoi but Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia and caucus colleagues appeared for the Government.

Although the hikoi will not change their minds about the legislation, it provided momentum for a new party which Mrs Turia's supporters say will be formed around her.

The aim is to contest all seven Maori seats at the next general election and take them from Labour.

Hikoi activists left the Maori MPs in no doubt about how they feel about them -- some spitting at them -- and Mr Horomia acknowledged he and his colleagues were under pressure.

"We are told we have got no balls. or we are gutless -- that's part of the scene," he said.

"At the end of the day, you've got to be able to handle that."

Mrs Turia was given celebrity treatment yesterday and some protesters carried huge posters of her.

She urged them to support the new party, and talked about the blood of their ancestors.

"They did not die in vain...this hikoi is for them and our future generations," she said.

- NZPA