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“The Coloniser's House: When Westminster Meets Wairua” - 31 August 2025

Exposing the racist machinery grinding against our rangatahi who dared to breathe Māori life into the colonial tomb of Parliament

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn

31 Aug 2025 — 14 min read

Kia ora e hoa mā,

The Westminster system operating in Aotearoa stands exposed as a fortress of white supremacy masquerading as democratic process. When Te Pāti Māori MPs performed a haka during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill, they shattered the colonial facade to reveal the racist machinery beneath. The brutal punishment that followed - unprecedented 21-day suspensions for Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, and seven days for 22-year-old Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke - represents the most savage institutional racism inflicted upon Māori representation since our people were forced into this colonial charade.

The New Zealand Parliament House, showcasing colonial Westminster neoclassical architecture as a symbol of political power and authority in Wellington

Background

The conversation about integrating tikanga Māori into parliamentary practice emerges from a Parliament that remains fundamentally disconnected from the people it claims to serve. As former Speaker Adrian Rurawhe brutally observed, Parliament "hasn't caught up with the rest of Aotearoa", existing as a colonial relic where "the overall procedure is Westminster-based, so it's not even New Zealand-based".

The Westminster system was transplanted to Aotearoa through the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, establishing a bicameral Parliament with elected representatives following British parliamentary tradition. This system brought with it regular elections, local constituencies, a Speaker, rules of procedure and Cabinet government - all designed to replicate the colonial motherland's power structures on stolen Māori land.

Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi articulates the fundamental challenge: Parliament must become "a far better, more sophisticated appreciation and understanding of Māori ways of being, Māori culture, tikanga, and reo". Yet this demand confronts a system designed to suppress exactly these values.

What is going on?

The current crisis exposes how Parliament's Standing Orders "take little or no account of Māori tradition, practice, process, or belief". When three Te Pāti Māori MPs performed Ka Mate during the Treaty Principles Bill debate, they were expressing constitutionally protected political expression and responding to "the worst potential legislative breach of Te Tiriti in our generation".

Men performing a traditional Māori haka in full ceremonial dress, demonstrating the cultural significance of haka as a form of identity and resistance

The institutional response reveals the true nature of parliamentary "democracy." Privileges Committee chair Judith Collins orchestrated the most severe punishments in Parliament's 171-year history, demonstrating what happens when Māori refuse to play by colonial rules.

David Seymour's Treaty Principles Bill represents a direct assault on Māori constitutional rights, redefining Treaty principles to eliminate Indigenous sovereignty and impose "equality before the law" - code for white supremacist uniformity.

Unprecedented punishments recommended by Parliament's Privileges Committee for Te Pāti Māori MPs compared to historical precedent

The Colonial Architecture of Oppression

The Westminster system functions as intended - to maintain colonial power through procedural violence. As Rurawhe explains, Standing Orders operate "kind of like putting a lovely new cover on standing orders, but not actually changing the content". The system allows cosmetic Māori additions while preserving white supremacist control.

Kapa-Kingi identifies the core deception: "You could smother this whole building with all of that wonderful symbol... and not shift anything in the mind of the individuals that are the bosses and the thinkers and the lawmakers of this place". The tokenistic Māori Affairs Select Committee rooms become "quiet and tucked away" - physical manifestations of how the system quarantines Māori culture.

Seymour discussing Treaty principles on Q+A, highlighting ongoing debates over the Treaty of Waitangi

Timeline of colonial suppression and Māori resistance in New Zealand Parliament from 1852-2025

The Standing Orders Committee structure ensures colonial continuity. Decisions require "consensus, or 'the view of the majority'", meaning if "the two major parties agree on something it will happen, unless all other parties disagree". This systematically prevents meaningful change while maintaining the illusion of democratic process.

The Seymour-Collins Axis of Institutional Racism

David Seymour emerges as the primary architect of contemporary anti-Māori legislation. His Treaty Principles Bill seeks to redefine Treaty principles to eliminate Indigenous rights, while his Regulatory Standards Bill would "bind governments forever to the neoliberal logic of economic freedom".

Seymour operates within ACT's neoliberal framework that has "failed 3 times already" since 2007. His persistence reveals the "neoliberal extreme centre" that dominates New Zealand politics, where citizens are "redefined as individual consumers of newly competitive public services".

The financial machinery supporting this agenda exposes the class interests at stake. National has received $8.2m in donations since 2021, followed by ACT on $4.2m, while Te Pāti Māori received only $99k - 82 times less than National. This financial apartheid ensures wealthy donors can "exert influence" through unlimited donations.

Judith Collins' role as Privileges Committee chair demonstrates how institutional racism operates through procedural violence. Collins made false claims that Te Pāti Māori "stopped the ACT Party from exercising" their vote, when ACT had already voted before Te Pāti Māori. Her accusation that Te Pāti Māori showed "lack of civility" drew "185 years of colonial racism down upon their heads".

David Seymour discusses the Treaty Principles Bill explaining his perspective on Treaty of Waitangi principles

The committee process reveals systematic bias designed to legitimise predetermined outcomes. Te Pāti Māori MPs were denied joint representation, expert tikanga testimony from Tā Pou Temara, and adequate legal counsel. The committee "already decided our fate" before any hearing occurred.

Parliamentary Speaker Gerry Brownlee's unprecedented invitation for extended debate and amendments signals even the institution's protector recognises the committee's overreach. His observation that "these punishments recommended by the committee are very severe and are unprecedented" constitutes rare institutional criticism of government racism.

The neoliberal context amplifies this oppression. New Zealand underwent "radical neoliberal reform" that redefined "citizens as individual consumers" while collective Māori identity and tikanga were systematically erased. This represents what Indigenous scholars identify as "genocidal policies intended to eliminate national and cultural particularity".

David Seymour associated with the Treaty Principles Bill, presenting his stance on related issues

The Tikanga Versus Westminster False Binary

The establishment frames this as procedural compliance versus cultural expression, but this obscures the fundamental power struggle. Kapa-Kingi identifies the colonial trick: when people hear "tikanga," they "automate it to your first language of thinking" and reduce it to simply "the rules". This linguistic colonisation strips tikanga of its "different life and different beginning" and "different origins".

The real issue transcends rule modification. As Rurawhe warns, implementing tikanga "is going to depend on the courage of the participants in this place", but the system remains "driven by party politics" where change requires "the view of the majority".

This creates the central contradiction: meaningful tikanga integration requires dismantling the majoritarian tyranny that defines Westminster democracy. The system cannot accommodate Indigenous sovereignty because it was designed specifically to prevent it.

Te Pāti Māori's press release denouncing the denial of fundamental rights to their MPs during a parliamentary privileges committee hearing dated April 1, 2025

The Seymour Pipeline: From Atlas Network to Parliamentary Violence

Seymour's assault on Māori rights connects to broader neoliberal networks. His Regulatory Standards Bill represents "libertarian power grab" disguised as "common-sense solution", designed to "bind governments forever to the neoliberal logic" while systematically excluding Māori voices.

The Waitangi Tribunal identified that Seymour's bill "would constitute a breach of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi" due to lack of Māori consultation. This deliberate exclusion exposes how neoliberal reform specifically targets Indigenous rights.

Māori men in traditional attire holding paddles, representing ceremonial Māori cultural practices and identity

The coordinated nature of this attack becomes clear when examining Winston Peters' description of the haka as "intimidating" and "unforgivable", while Peters simultaneously called the Treaty Principles Bill "dead in the water". This reveals the coalition's strategy: use Seymour to attack Māori rights while maintaining plausible deniability through Peters' theatrical opposition.

Institutional White Supremacy in Action

Collins' committee demonstrates how research shows "dark-skinned defendants are treated more severely" in justice systems. Her false claims about the sequence of events either represent fundamental misunderstanding or "political or other prejudice".

Collins' history of "acting in bad faith, abusing power, and acting in a biased, unreasonable and predetermined manner" during the David Bain case establishes a pattern of procedural manipulation. Her involvement in the "Dirty Politics" scandal, passing private information to right-wing blogger Cameron Slater, connects her to networks of reactionary propaganda.

The committee's narrow majority decision breaks with Parliament's tradition of seeking consensus on privileges matters. Labour's Duncan Webb noted this represents government MPs simply "exercising their political muscle" rather than seeking justice.

The Whakapapa of Resistance

Outside Parliament, rangatahi are "speaking Māori as another language, and English as another language", creating bilingual connections "rolling around our country". Kapa-Kingi's mokopuna - "pink, brown, and caramel" - represent the future Parliament refuses to acknowledge.

The 100,000-strong hīkoi demanding change demonstrates how expressions are "showing up in numbers walking and saying 'the change has got to come'". Protesters recognised that "when we haka in the name of liberation we are told to be quiet and told to sit down", exposing how Māori culture is celebrated only "when the All Blacks do it" but criminalised when used for political resistance.

Beyond Symbolic Reconciliation

Rurawhe's pessimistic assessment proves prophetic: "I'm actually not sure if this Parliament's ready to change. I'd need to be convinced". His experience shows how "the people in charge get a group of Māori to do some work" then reject solutions because "you've gone too far".

The fundamental problem remains structural. Westminster democracy's contest-based majority-rules system cannot accommodate Indigenous consensus-building and collective decision-making. Kapa-Kingi warns that without "genuine and authentic shift in the mind of enough" people, any reform becomes "sadly, just a waste of people's time and intellect".

Implications

This crisis exposes Parliament as fundamentally incompatible with tino rangatiratanga. The institution serves as a "colonial straightjacket" designed to "eliminate national and cultural particularity" through systematic "assimilative tactics of the state".

The coordinated attack through Seymour's legislative agenda and Collins' committee persecution represents state violence designed to force Indigenous compliance. When Māori refuse to "play ball," the "coloniser government" reaches for "extreme sanctions".

For tangata whenua, this confirms that meaningful change requires dismantling Westminster democracy entirely, not reforming it. The system cannot be decolonised because colonisation IS the system.

We Must Resist

The haka in Parliament achieved what no amount of committee work could: it exposed the violent colonial heart beating beneath parliamentary procedure. Te Pāti Māori's refusal to apologise demonstrates Indigenous rejection of colonial guilt and shame.

Rawiri Waititi's call to "make this a one-term government, enrol, vote" provides the pathway forward. Electoral punishment for institutional racism offers the only language this colonial parliament understands.

Kapa-Kingi's observation that "Parliament needs to catch up with what's happening outside of these walls" misses the point. Parliament cannot catch up because it was designed to prevent Indigenous advancement. Our mokopuna deserve institutions that reflect their bilingual, bicultural reality - not colonial museums disguised as democratic institutions.

The Westminster system in Aotearoa stands condemned by its own violence against our rangatahi. Time to burn it down and build something worthy of our people.

Mauri ora ki a koutou katoa.

Readers who find value in my content, please consider a koha to support the cause: HTDM: 03-1546-0415173-000. The MGL understands these tough economic times for whānau so please only contribute if you have capacity and wish to do so.

Ivor Jones
The Māori Green Lantern

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