Privilege — Conduct of Members—Disruption During Vote

Members, I’ve received letters from the Hon Shane Jones, Suze Redmayne, and Todd Stephenson asking that I consider actions that may be considered a breach of privilege that took place following the debate on the Treaty principles bill on 14 November. I previously named Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke for interrupting a vote, which should be considered a serious matter by every member of this House. Taking an action to prevent votes being completed is completely unacceptable. At this point, however, naming has been the only action I’ve chosen to take on that matter. The letters I’ve received name a number of members who participated in a haka in the House, and, in particular, four members who left their seats to stand on the floor of the House, with three of those members advancing towards the seats of another party. That is disorderly and cannot be considered anything other than disorderly. I do not make any ruling in this decision about the appropriateness of haka and its place inside the tikanga of this House. That is a matter for the Standing Orders Committee and will be discussed in a meeting later today.

However, the issue of members leaving their seats to participate in an activity that was disorderly and disruptive to the procedure of the House is something that should be considered further. The House may treat as contempt an act, or any act, which obstructs or impedes the House in the performance of its functions. Standing Order 418 lists “Examples of contempts”, which include “threatening, or intimidating a member … in the discharge of [their duties]” and “threatening, or disadvantaging a member on account of [their] conduct in [the House]”. It is my decision, therefore, that this is a matter the Privileges Committee should consider. I have determined that the actions of the Hon Peeni Henare, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, in participating in disruptive activity on the floor of the House on 14 November, gave rise to a question of privilege which stands referred to the Privileges Committee.