pn724. Stoking the racism fires: Rawiri Waititi expelled from the House, wrong and right

Mallard and Waititi

Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi performed a haka and was expelled from the House today after tensions rose following questioning between the Prime Minister and Opposition leader. Speaker Trevor Mallard had little choice but to expel Waititi from the House for his comments were clearly in breach of parliamentary protocols.

 Waititi, however, claimed —and I think with considerable justification— that: 

 "Over the past two weeks there has been racist propaganda and rhetoric towards tangata whenua. That not only is insulting to tangata whenua, but insults the mana of this House." 

pn592. Maori Party applies for election recounts

Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer

The Māori Party's application for recounts in two electorates is unusual. 

It has no dispute with the final results but wishes to use the recounts to examine issues faced by Maori voters at some polling booths which it considered disadvantaged some Maori voters. Some were forced to cast special votes while difficulties casting a vote meant some simply left before voting. The recount would also allow the party to analyse informal votes that did not count towards the results. 

The Party is  also critical of current election rules which only allow Māori to switch to the Māori roll every five years (elections are held every 3 years), and the 5% coat-tailing threshold to enter Parliament. They say this is unreachable for any indigenous party,  and needs to be halved for Māori seats.