After being removed from Parliament yesterday, Labour MP Willie Jackson said that despite being ordered to leave, he felt it was important to stand up for Māori.
The MP left Parliament for the afternoon after refusing to apologise for his comments made to Act’s David Seymour during the first reading of the controversial Treaty Prinicples Bill.
Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee told Jackson to apologise for his comments in which he quoted participants at the Auckland hīkoi on Wednesday, who had called Seymour a liar.
He refused to retract his comment or apologise to Seymour, before promptly leaving the chamber.
Jackson told Te Ao Māori News he was frustrated with the situation because of the misinformation he alleged Seymour was spreading.
“E hiahia ana ia ki te tuku ō tātou mana ki ngā tāngata katoa. Kei te mōhio tāua te mana mō te iwi Māori, engari he rerekē ōna whakaaro. Nō Ngā Puhi, nō Ngāti Rēhia ia, he whanaunga ki a Peeni Henare. e tika ki te tū ahau... mō tō tātou iwi.
“He wants to give away our authority to everyone. You and I recognise the authority of the Māori nation, but he has different views. He’s Ngā Puhi, from Ngāti Rēhia, and is related to Peeni Henare. It’s only right that I make a stand for our people.”
He said his comment referring to David Seymour as a liar was because his statements were wrong.
“Kāore e tika tana kōrero. Hiahia ana ia... ki te hoatu i tā mātou mana ki ngā iwi katoa, ki te tuku ō tātou mana ki ngā tāngata katoa.
“E tika ana ki te tū mō tō tātou iwi. Kei te whawhai mō ngā tikanga Māori, ahakoa hōhā te speaker."
“What he is saying is not right. He wants to give our authority to everyone, to give away our mana to all people.
“It’s right to stand for our people, we are fighting for Māori values, even if the Speaker gets frustrated."
Later that day during the count of votes for and against the bill, Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke stood up from her seat starting a haka directed at Seymour, which her colleagues and MPs from the Greens and Labour joined.
People in the public gallery above joined in loudly, Speaker Gerry Brownlee suspended Parliament for an hour until the gallery was cleared.
