New Zealand parliament bans 3 Maori MPs over haka

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.

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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 November on the contentious Treaty Principles Bill, which sought to redefine the principles of a key pact between Maoris and the government.

Waititi held up a noose as he rose to speak in defiance of the ban on Thursday.

"In my maiden speech, I talked about one of our (ancestors) who was hung in the gallows of Mt Eden Prison, wrongfully accused," Waititi said.