A Maori party leader has been expelled from the New Zealand Parliament for not wearing a tie.
Only male MPs could ask questions in the room by wearing a tie, which is why President Trevor Mallard twice banned Rory Waititi from asking questions and then fired him.
“It’s not about relationships, it’s about cultural identity, my friend,” Waititi said. For local media.
He called the links the “colonial ring” and instead wore a green stone necklace.
Waititi called Mallard’s behavior “unreasonable” and claimed he was wearing “Maori work clothes”.
Then Maori co-chair Debbie Ngariwa Packer – who was wearing a tie – took the case to her fellow member, but to no avail.
There was already a similar incident at the end of last year, and Waititi was also asked to wear a tie if he wanted to speak. And he said in his first parliamentary speech: “Remove the noose from my neck to sing my song.”
Photo:
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Incidentally, Trevor Mallard said that he personally supported changing the rules on mandatory ties, but after consulting with MPs, he left the rules, saying that the vast majority of his writers are in favor of maintaining the tie clause.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was not against people’s refusal to link, but she needed to focus on bigger things. “I don’t think New Zealanders would be interested in relationships,” he said. (BBC)
