WAITITI WIELDS A NOOSE - SO DID THE KKK

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Oh the unconscious irony. When Rawiri Waititi brandished a noose in New Zealand's Parliament, did he intend to evoke the Ku Klux Klan lynchings in the US of black, segregated people by white - or Te Pati Maori violence in New Zealand? Probably not. But he certainly wasn't wanting to draw attention to the suicide rate of Maori, which is nearly double those of non-Maori and for young Maori nearly triple, and mostly by hanging.

Let's be clear: Waititi, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and the kid they led up the garden path were not suspended for a haka or miming a shooting (which in any other workplace would likely have seen them sacked). They were suspended for breaking the rules - Parliament's tikanga. But the government used its numbers to win the inprecedented suspensions and that's not a good look.

"Give them an inch, they'll take a mile." By failing to nip TPM's bad behaviour in the bud, Gerry Brownlee, Speaker of the House, and Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister, have endangered our democracy. The Ku Klux Klan were the first US terrorists, aiming to overthrow the government. Te Pati Maori look like becoming an antipodean KKK and being rich brown, not po' white, if this government continues to shirk responsibility, they might just succeed.

Ku Klux Klan member holds a noose to intimidate black voters, Miami 1939

I hold no brief for Sir Geoffrey Palmer but on this issue he's in the right:

Former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer has criticised the unprecedented punishment imposed on Te Pāti Māori MPs for performing a haka in Parliament, saying it risks undermining confidence in the Privileges Committee and the rule of law.

 

Parliament on Thursday backed a Privileges Committee recommendation to suspend TPM co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer for 21 days, and TMP MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke for seven days because of their conduct last November. The longest previous suspension was three days, making the sanction the harshest handed down in Parliament’s 171-year history.

 

Bad behaviour badly punished

 

While the Privileges Committee usually acts unanimously, both the committee recommendation and the subsequent parliamentary vote followed party lines as the government used its numbers to win the day.

Sir Geoffrey said that gave a partisan element to the decision that risked making it look like a political trial.

“To impose a sanction that is many times more serious than any sanction ever applied in the law of privilege in the New Zealand Parliament is a bad and very doubtful thing to do,” he told LawNews.

“It is likely to destroy the confidence that people have that you can get anything but a political trial in the Privileges Committee.

“I remember [former UK prime minister] Boris Johnson saying when he was tried by the Privileges Committee that it was a kangaroo court. That is always the risk of imposing heavy penalties, especially penalties that stop MPs carrying out their duties.

TPM MPs?  That remark is sure to raise a few guffaws. 

 

That’s never been done before in that way for that time, and I don’t agree with it.”

Palmer said the vote set a dangerous precedent “that you will get a trial by political people. It will be of a partisan character, not an objective judgment based on fairness, and that’s really what the rule of law is all about.”

 

The debate from the outset has been filled with rancour, with the Privileges Committee condemning the “intimidating” haka performed in November, which included Ngarewa-Packer making a pistol gesture with her hand towards ACT MPs.

In the lead up to this week’s vote, Waititi brandished a noose in the House and NZ First leader Winston Peters mocked the TPM co-leader’s moko as “scribbles”, though he later apologised.

Peters has condemned the TPM MPs for failing to apologise and labelled them extremists who “don’t want democracy; they want anarchy”.

Palmer, a noted constitutional scholar who is writing a book about parliamentary privilege, said populist antics by MPs eroded public confidence at a time when democracies around the world are struggling.

“A lot of politics is theatre and there’s no escape from that,” he said. But it is really important that the Parliament acts in a principled manner with integrity.

“You only lose democracy by gradual sliding away, by gradual deterioration of standards. And I sometimes worry that that’s the mindset we’re getting into here.”

 

If only they did live in that mythical country ... 

 

Palmer reiterated his call for a change to the laws of parliamentary privilege.

“Under the New Zealand Parliamentary Privilege Act 2014, which perpetuates the situation that’s been the case for many years and was inherited from the House of Commons,  the House can, on a political vote, imprison people or fine them,” he said.

“I think that is incompatible with the rule of law in a modern society. We have a codified criminal law in New Zealand and that codified criminal law sets out the offences and then there’s the Summary Offences Act that sets out the minor ones.

“For people to be tried in a political forum and effectively convicted and possibly imprisoned – although that’s never been done – [is] a bad look for the rule of law, and it needs to be addressed now.”

privilege, said populist antics by MPs eroded public confidence at a time when democracies around the world are struggling.

“I think that is incompatible with the rule of law in a modern society. We have a codified criminal law in New Zealand and that codified criminal law sets out the offences and then there’s the Summary Offences Act that sets out the minor ones.

“For people to be tried in a political forum and effectively convicted and possibly imprisoned – although that’s never been done – [is] a bad look for the rule of law, and it needs to be addressed now.” https://lawnews.nz/featured/haka-suspensions-put-rule-of-law-at-risk-says-constitutional-expert-sir-geoffrey-palmer/

 

Pentecost (El Greco)

 Come Holy Spirit, come by the powerful intercession of thy beloved Spouse, the Immaculate Virgin Mary, and renew the face of the earth.