Meet New Zealand’s youngest MP whose Māori Haka dance in Parliament goes viral

New Zealand Parliament saw a fiery session on Thursday after Maori MP Hana-Rawhiti Kareariki Maipi-Clarke, who is also the youngest MP in the Parliament, ripped up a copy of the Indigenous Treaty Bill while performing the rousing Haka dance, prompting others to join in.

A video of the Parliament session in New Zealand is now going viral, when MPs gathered to vote on the Treaty Principles Bill, but the session was disrupted by the 22-year-old Te Pati Maori MP, who ripped up a copy of the bill and performed the traditional Maori dance of haka.

Other members of the House and spectators in the gallery joined Hana-Rawhiti Kareariki Maipi-Clarke in the haka, leading to Speaker Gerry Brownlee briefly suspending the House session.

Under the principles laid out in the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, which guide the relationship between the government and Māori, tribes were promised broad rights to retain their lands and protect their interests in return for ceding governance to the British. The bill would specify that those rights should apply to all New Zealanders.

Who is Hana-Rawhiti Kareariki Maipi-Clarke, youngest MP in New Zealand?

Hana-Rawhiti Kareariki Maipi-Clarke is a 22-year-old MP in New Zealand, representing Te Pati Maori in the Parliament. She is the youngest sitting MP in the House in nearly two hundred years. Maipi-Clarke initially made headlines after she was elected in 2023 elections in New Zealand, and performed the traditional Haka in Parliament during her maiden speech.

Both she and her father were being considered as candidates to contest the elections from Te Pāti Māori, but Maipi-Clarke was eventually chosen because of her “youthful perspective”.

Maipi-Clarke has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his conservative government, which has been accused of dismantling Maori rights. As Luxon’s popularity has taken a significant dive due to certain hardline policies, Maipi-Clarke made it onto a short list of five alternative “preferred Prime Minister” candidates, according to a local news poll reported by Time magazine.

The controversial bill in question – Treaty Principles Bill – has scant support and is unlikely to become law. Detractors say it threatens racial discord and constitutional upheaval, while thousands of New Zealanders are traveling the length of the country this week to protest it.