Tuesday afternoon Maori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi was removed from Parliament after a dress code infraction. Speaker Trevor Mallard told him to leave because he was not wearing a tie.
Waititi responded by referring to a tie as a “colonial noose.”
Late last year, Waititi was warned that he faced being ejected from the House if he did not wear a tie, after refusing to wear one, and in his maiden speech to Parliament he said in te reo: “Take the noose from around my neck so that I may sing my song.”
The issue was further complicated by the Speaker allowing Mexican Green Party list MP, Ricardo Menendez March, to wear a Bolo tie.
Had the Speaker applied the rules fairly without fear or favour in the first place, the Bolo tie would have been rejected as well. Instead of giving in to the latest demand, he should now tell Menendez March that he (the Speaker) made an error of judgement and that the Green list MP should wear a traditional Western-style tie from now on.
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