Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke

This digital illustration is by Huriana Kopeke-Te Aho (Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Kahungunu). It features a portrait of Te Pāti Māori Member of Parliament Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke ripping up a copy of the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi bill as she stood and led the Ka Mate haka aimed at David Seymour (leader of Act New Zealand) and his controversial bill on 14 November 2024. Members from her party and other parties, and some visitors in the public gallery, joined in. Speaker Gerry Brownlee suspended the House and cleared the gallery. Maipi-Clarke was suspended from the chamber for 24 hours.

The film footage immediately went viral around the world with enormous attention focused on one of New Zealand’s youngest members of Parliament. Two months earlier in September, Maipi-Clarke had received the prestigious One Young World Politician of the Year award for her work in amplifying young indigenous voices in politics.

The most influential still image of Maipi-Clarke in the act of ripping the paper was captured by RNZ photographer Sam Rillstone, which Kopeke-Te Aho has based their illustration on.

Background

A National-led coalition government came to power in November 2023, and in the first six months of its term the government proposed or implemented a number of policies related to co-governance and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. One of the most controversial was the ACT Party’s Treaty Principles Bill. The goal of the legislation, as stated on the ACT party website, was to ‘unwind the divisive modern “partnership” interpretation of the Treaty and restore its meaning to what was actually written and signed in 1840’. They suggested three draft principles: the New Zealand Government has the right to govern for all New Zealanders; the New Zealand Government will honour all New Zealanders in the chieftainship of their land and all their property; all New Zealanders are equal under the law with the same rights and duties.

A number of legal challenges were made to the Waitangi Tribunal about the Treaty Principles Bill, which the Tribunal commented on in an interim report released in August 2024. The Tribunal found, among other things, that the Crown’s agreement to pursue the Treaty Principles Bill belied the existence of the partnership between tangata whenua and the Crown established by the Treaty of Waitangi, that the Bill was fashioned on a distorted historical reality, and that if enacted, it would reduce the constitutional status of Te Tiriti/The Treaty, limit Māori rights and Crown obligations, and undermine social cohesion.

Toitū te Tiriti was founded by Eru Kapa-Kingi alongside Kiri Tamihere and Hohepa Thompson, and has strong links to Te Pāti Māori. In December 2023 they called for a ‘National Māori Action Day’ as Parliament restarted, and in May 2024 they followed this up with a series of ‘strikes’, timed to coincide with the government’s budget announcement.

The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti was announced in mid-October 2024 and kicked off in Te Kāo on November 10. Over nine days the group travelled from Cape Reinga to Parliament, with thousands of people joining urban activations in centres such as Rotorua, Hamilton, Auckland, and Palmerston North. The hīkoi consisted of vehicle convoys with runners covering the ground in between rallying points. Many marchers in the hīkoi carried placards with this illustration (or similar) which they could purchase online as a fundraiser for Te Pāti Māori.

On Tuesday 19 November, the final day of the hīkoi, more than 42,000 people marched from Waitangi Park beside Te Papa to Parliament grounds. Among the dignitaries towards the front of the hīkoi was Māori Queen Nga wai hono i te po, who stood alongside Hone Harawira, Tuku Morgan and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke. A petition opposing the Treaty Principles Bill was presented with 203,653 signatures.

Epilogue

Over 300,000 submissions on the bill were received by Parliament, with 90 percent opposed to it. The bill was voted down in Parliament on its second reading on 10 April 2025 (112 noes to 11 ayes). Every party except for ACT voted against it (RNZ, 11 April 2025).

In September 2025, Time magazine included Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke in its list of 100 of the 'World's Most Influential Rising Stars'. Deb Haaland, a Democrat and former U.S. Interior Secretary, wrote:

'Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke shook the world when she stood up on New Zealand’s parliament floor in protest last November. But it wasn’t just any protest, it was a haka: a traditional Māori dance. The Indigenous power and pride in that room brought tears to my eyes and is part of a broader global shift: Indigenous peoples filling spaces that were designed to keep us out and, in some cases, intentionally push us into extinction.

In 2023, Maipi-Clarke, then 21, became the youngest person elected to the parliament in nearly two centuries. She follows in the footsteps of ancestors who sustained Māori language, traditions, and culture to survive against treacherous odds. Using her platform and voice, she staved off attempts to disenfranchise communities and attack Indigenous rights. In the grand scheme of things, she represents something that rings true: young people are not just leaders of tomorrow, they are also taking the helm and fighting for the future they deserve. She is a link in the chain of activists who sacrificed for us and inspire us every day' (Time, 30 Sept 2025).

References:
RNZ (11 April 2025). Celebrations at defeat of divisive Treaty Principles Bill. RNZ News (online).
Haaland, D. (30 Sept 2025). Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke / The World’s Most Influential Rising Stars. Time (online).