Blood-curdling moment New Zealand MP breaks out haka war dance and gets parliament suspended

The Daily Mail ^ | 11 Oct 2025 | CIARAN FOREMAN

[MinorityRepublican]

New Zealand's parliament was brought to a blood-curdling halt after one of its newly elected MPs burst into the traditional Maori haka dance - causing the session to be suspended.

Oriini Kaipara, 42, of the left-wing Te Pati Maori party, had just finished delivering her maiden speech to the House of Representatives when the chamber erupted into a war-like scene of screaming and stamping on Thursday.

The former newsreader-turned-politician was elected to parliament in September to fill a vacant seat, and members of the House burst into song to celebrate her arrival before she herself joined in.

Speaker of the House, Gerry Brownlee, asked MPs to stop after they burst into the haka because politicians in New Zealand must be granted permission if they - or their supporters - wish to sing or perform the dance in the public gallery.

The footage shows Ms Kaipara, who is 100 per cent Maori and adorns a Tā moko facial tattoo beneath her lips, facing down Mr Brownlee with her eyes bulging as the chamber breaks into the thumping movement.

Mr Brownlee can be heard pleading 'No! Not that', as he gesticulates to the gallery adding: 'The guarantee was that would not be taking place'.

As the haka grows louder in the chamber, the Speaker suspends the House before quickly exiting from his seat - with some other MPs seemingly following.

While the parliament later resumed proceedings, Mr Brownlee said he would be launching a probe into whether any party or MPs had prior knowledge of the haka as he described the gallery's actions as contemptuous.

---

TOPICS: Humor
KEYWORDS: haka; hakadance; maori; newzealand; oriinikaipara; stoneage; stoneageculture; stoneagerelic; tepatimaori; trollfarm

[Chickensoup]

I certainly am tribe-ing up.

[captmar-vell]

I just signed up to comment for the ‘blood-curdling’ comment, don’t see that one every day, lol