New Zealand MPs who performed haka in parliament given unprecedented punishment

Te Pāti Māori co-leaders and youngest member to be temporarily suspended from parliament after performance protesting controversial bill

Three New Zealand MPs who performed a haka in parliament will be temporarily suspended, in what is believed to be the harshest ever penalty issued to parliamentarians.

The co-leaders of Te Pāti Māori (the Māori Party) Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, and the party’s youngest member, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, performed the traditional Māori dance during a vote on the controversial Treaty Principles Bill during its first reading in November.