Three Maori MPs face suspension over 'intimidating' haka

A New Zealand parliamentary committee has proposed that three Māori MPs be suspended from parliament for their protest haka during a sitting last year.

Opposition MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke began the traditional group dance after being asked if her party supported a controversial bill - which has since been voted down - to redefine the country's founding treaty.

The haka could have "initimidated" other lawmakers, the committee ruled, recommending that she be suspended for a week and Te Pāti Māori (Māori Party) co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer be banned for 21 days.

The Māori Party criticised the recommendations as a "warning shot to all of us to fall in line".

"When tangata whenua resist, colonial powers reach for the maximum penalty," it said in a statement on Wednesday, using a Māori phrase that translates to "people of the land".

It also said these are among the harshest punishments ever recommended by New Zealand's parliament.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who is Māori, said the trio were "out-of-control MPs who flout the rules and intimidate others with outrageous hakas".

Their proposed suspensions will be put to a vote on Tuesday.

The Treaty Principles Bill, which sought to redefine New Zealand's founding treaty with Māori people, was voted down 112 votes to 11 last month - days after a government committee recommended that it should not proceed.

The bill had already been widely expected to fail, with most major political parties committed to voting it down.

Members of the right-wing Act Party, which tabled it, were the only MPs to vote for it at the second reading on 10 April.

Act, a minor party in the ruling centre-right coalition, argued that there is a need to legally define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi - the 1840 pact between the British Crown and Māori leaders signed during New Zealand's colonisation - which it said resulted in the country being divided by race.

Critics, however, say the legislation will divide the country and lead to the unravelling of much-needed support for many Māori.

The proposed legislation sparked widespread outrage across the country and saw more than 40,000 people taking part in a protest outside parliament during its first reading in November last year.

Before that, thousands participated in a nine-day march against the bill- beginning in the far north and ending in Auckland.

Maipi-Clarke, who started the haka dance, also ripped up a copy of the bill when it was introduced.