Three Maori MPs suspended over haka protest

WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s parliament on Thursday handed record-long suspensions to three Indigenous Maori lawmakers who last year staged a protest haka on the debating floor.

Maori Party co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer were banished from parliament for 21 days, the longest-ever suspension. Fellow Maori Party lawmaker Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, New Zealand’s youngest current MP, was suspended for seven days.

The bans stem from a haka performed during voting in...