Parliament’s Speaker Gerry Brownlee says he will seek a meeting with Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori co-leaders next week following what he has described as “contempt of the House” during the maiden speech of MP Oriini Kaipara yesterday.<\/p>\n
Kaipara’s 23-minute speech<\/a> exceeded her allocated time, with repeated bell chimes from Brownlee ignored as she continued to speak.<\/p>\n “This is not on,” he said.<\/p>\n Around 100 people sat in the public gallery for Kaipara’s maiden speech and, despite an agreement that only a waiata would follow, two haka were performed, prompting Brownlee to suspend the House.<\/p>\n “When we have people coming into the House who decide they’re not going to abide by their agreements, then they put themselves in a contemptuous position,” he said.<\/p>\n “The behaviour in the gallery was contemptuous, and it’s my intention over the next couple of days to find out whether or not that was by agreement with any party inside this House.<\/p>\n “People go onto marae all over the country and respect the protocols. We have a protocol here, it is our tikanga,” he said.<\/p>\n Kaipara, who decisively won the T\u0101maki Makaurau by-election last month, spoke about M\u0101ori resilience and her journey from journalist to MP. “I covered stories and now I choose to change them,” she said.<\/p>\n The disruption followed a turbulent week for Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori. Activist group Toit\u016b Te Tiriti announced it was cutting political ties with the party<\/a>, accusing its leadership of operating a “dictatorship model”.<\/p>\n Spokesperson Eru Kapa-Kingi, who is the son of Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, said decisions were being made by a small group at the top, with little input from the wider movement. He also claimed the party had failed to hold required AGMs and hui with electorate branches.<\/p>\n “There needs to be accountability,” he said. “Power doesn’t sit with one party \u2014 it sits with the people.”<\/p>\n Toit\u016b Te Tiriti, one of its closest allies, has cut ties with the party. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n