Video of haka in Parliament goes viral around the world

Monday, 18 November 2024

Opposition MPs and the public gallery stood to perform Ka Mate during the bill's first reading.

The haka that disrupted Parliament last week made international headlines.

Video views were high across the globe with the BBC having over 20 million views on their TikTok.

Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee ordered security to clear the public gallery, and he briefly suspended Parliament as a result of the haka.

Clocking up millions of views on social media and being amongst the top news in Aotearoa last week, the Parliament haka also made headlines across the globe.

Led by Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Opposition MPs and members of the public gallery brought Parliament to a halt on Thursday afternoon as she ripped a copy of the Treaty Principles Bill, and MPs and the public stood to perform the haka Ka Mate.

The news was picked up by international media outlets including CNN, BBC, ABC News, The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Mail and Indian Express.

Haka interrupts vote on Treaty Principles Bill in Parliament last week.

The headlines included ‘Lawmakers stage Māori protest in New Zealand’s parliament during fraught race relations debate’, ‘Māori protests in NZ are about to get bigger and one person is being blamed’ and ‘New Zealanders are marching, performing haka to protest divisive bill’.

Video views were high across the globe with the BBC having over 20 million watch their TikTok, The Daily Mail had 74.6 million and The Wall Street Journal had 9.9 million.

Local news outlets also clocked up the views with Whakaata Māori Television’s TikTok reaching 323.3 million and 21.4 million likes.

Stuff’s TikTok recieved 13 million views and 763.7 thousand likes.

The Speaker of Parliament Gerry Brownlee took the very rare step of “naming” Maipi-Clarke and calling for the House to judge her conduct after the haka.

The coalition parties - National, ACT and NZ First - voted with the Speaker to suspend Maipi-Clarke. That meant she was unable to vote against the bill.

Brownlee ordered security to clear the public gallery, and he briefly suspended Parliament as a result of the haka.