Why Rawiri Waititi is facing possible censure

The Te Pāti Māori co-leader asked a question referencing something suppressed by a court. If any MP complains about it, it will be referred to parliament’s privileges committee, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.

During oral questions in the House yesterday, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Waititi asked a supplementary question following a question to prime minister Chris Hipkins from Act leader David Seymour relating to Seymour’s “joke” about Guy Fawkes and the Ministry for Pacific Peoples. The question referenced something which Waititi himself said was suppressed by a court. If like some people, you were across this development and slightly lost on the what (!) and how (?) or you are just catching up this morning, Otago University’s Andrew Geddis has you covered on The Spinoff. Geddis succinctly explains the protections extended to MPs in the House as they relate to breaching a court suppression order. While Waititi gets “absolute privilege” and evidence of what he said cannot be used in court proceedings to establish any legal liability, he may face consequences via parliament’s privileges committee.

As Stuff’s Glenn McConnell writes this morning, Seymour is pressing on with the joke bit, telling Stuff he thinks it could be funny if people started joking about blowing up an Act Party conference. The Herald’s Vaimoana Mase writes that words matter and that a week on from Seymour’s Guy Fawkes comment, she’s still “looking for the punchline”. As McConnell notes, Seymour has previously complained about the language others have used. He demanded an apology from Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi when he joked about poisoning Seymour with karaka berries and launched a public campaign against the work of Christchurch poet Tusiata Avia earlier this year.

1News reported yesterday that Act party candidate Elaine Naidu Franz had resigned after online comments where she likened vaccine mandates to Nazi concentration camps came to light. Naidu Franz was ranked 29th on Act’s list. It was also revealed that another Act candidate, Anto Coates, stepped down more than a month ago after comments about Covid and a parody song about former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern “throwing people in a gulag”, came to light. A third Act candidate, Darren Gilchrist has apologised and withdrawn comments where he suggested drowning victims had died from the Covid vaccine.

Speaker Adrian Rurawhe wrapped things up yesterday by asking everyone to calm down. The House will go quiet once we get through the last of the sitting days and the 53rd New Zealand parliament is dissolved ahead of the election. It’s probably wishful thinking to hope that calm will be the tenor of the next couple of months as parties hit the hustings. RNZ reported yesterday that hundreds of Te Pāti Māori billboards have been vandalised, with a driver mowing through a fence to flatten a billboard featuring co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. There will be a few people ending this term with a sense of peace however. Among others, National MP Todd Muller delivered his valedictory speech yesterday. It’s worth a watch or summary read.