On Tuesday, Te Pati Maori MPs will be obliged to swear an oath in order to sit and vote in parliament. However, on Friday, they published a press release. It is available here.
Clive Boonham is a retired barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand:
On 1 December 2023 Te Pati Maori published an official press release on its Facebook page entitled An Oath to our Mokopuna.
It was published in the name of Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke and five others, namely Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp, Takuta Ferris, and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. They are all newly elected MPs for Te Pati Maori.
The press release was published four days before the six MPs will be obliged to swear an oath of allegiance to King Charles the Third if they wish to sit and vote in the 54th New Zealand Parliament. […]
The language used is extremely strong. The elected members believe that the constitution of New Zealand is a “colonial fiction”, and that “Maori owe no allegiance to the genocidal legacy of the British Empire”. Presumably that is a reference to King Charles and confirmation that they do not bear any allegiance to the King. […]
The six Te Pati Maori elected members not only reject the sovereignty of King Charles, but they also reject the legitimacy of New Zealand’s constitution as a democratic constitutional monarchy. […]
Te Pati Maori has laid down a challenge to parliament. Its elected members unequivocally reject the statutory role of parliament itself and that of King Charles. They are disrespectful to both. They reject the rule of law in favour of tikanga.
If they are allowed to take the oath then it is likely that they will use it as a Trojan horse to get access to parliament through constitutional means.
Clive Boonham/The Treaty Facts
Read more here. Discuss it on the BFD.
