Te Pāti Māori and Hauraki Waikato MP Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clark temporarily halted Parliament’s passage of the first reading of the controversial Treaty Principles Bill yesterday. Following speeches, parties were asked to cast their votes.

New Zealand's indigenous community is rallying against a proposed bill that could strangle state support and stoke anti-Maori rhetoric, opponents say.

New Zealand's Parliament was briefly suspended on Thursday after Maori members staged a haka to disrupt the vote on a contentious bill that would reinterpret a 184-year-old treaty between the British and Indigenous Maori.