Barry Soper condemns uproar during Treaty Principles Bill first reading

The first reading of the contentious Treaty Principles Bill was held in Parliament today. The bill passed its first reading, but not before a haka disrupted it, causing a brief suspension of Parliament. Newstalk ZB’s Barry Soper told Heather du Plessis-Allan he’d “never seen anything like it in more than 40 years of covering Parliament”.

Veteran broadcaster Barry Soper says he’s “never seen hatred like that in Parliament before” after anger and uproar on Thursday. The highly contentious Treaty Principles Bill passed its first reading today despite significant disruption and the brief suspension of Parliament – a spectacle Soper said he hasn’t seen in four decades in Parliament. A haka was launched by Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke during the House’s official vote.



She was joined by her party co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, as well as MPs from Labour and the Greens and members of the public gallery..