New Zealand — until Wednesday — required male legislators to wear ties in Parliament. After Waititi rose multiple times to speak without the requisite neckwear, House Speaker Trevor Mallard ejected him, local media outlets reported.
“It’s not about ties. It’s about cultural identity, mate,” Waititi said as he walked out of the chamber.
By Wednesday, Mallard announced that following further consultation, he was officially scrapping the rule.
The Maori people are indigenous to New Zealand and make up about 15 percent of the population of 5 million. Maori activists have accused successive New Zealand governments of discrimination and failures to fully reckon with the legacies of colonialism.
New Zealand’s current Parliament is the country’s most diverse yet. The Maori Party, which holds two seats, broke off from the Labour Party in 2004.
Tuesday’s quarrel began during “Question Time,” when members of Parliament can grill government ministers. Mallard, officiating, cut off Waititi mid-question, raising the absent tie. Waititi tried to persist, asking another question and continuing to speak after Mallard ordered him to stop and exit the chamber.
Before leaving, Waititi yielded his question to Maori Party co-head Debbie Ngarewa-Packer — who was wearing a tie, which is not required for women.
Waititi and Mallard have sparred over ties before. Waititi has called them “a colonial noose” and last year received a warning that he could be ejected from the chamber unless he wore one. Mallard, despite a seeming commitment to enforcing the rule, initially supported a proposal to scratch the tie requirement — but ultimately came down on the other side, after he said a majority of lawmakers who responded to a poll over the summer said they favored keeping it.
“My own personal view has been expressed widely that I think ties are outdated, but that was not the view of the overwhelming majority of members who expressed their view to me,” Mallard said Tuesday, before reversing course Wednesday, New Zealand’s Stuff news website reported.
“There’s nothing stopping Rawiri wearing his hei tiki if he wants to, but it’s not an alternative to a tie,” Mallard said Tuesday, referring to Waititi.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday urged New Zealand politicians to focus on issues other than attire.
This month, New Zealand’s government proposed a new mandatory syllabus for all schoolchildren to study the Maori people and British colonialization, Reuters reported. Supporters praised the proposal as a critical step in recognizing the violence that the Maori have faced, while critics warned that it could offer an unbalanced view of history.
This report has been updated.
