New Zealand: Three Maori MPs face suspension over protest haka

New Zealand's Maori Party says the recommendation is a "warning shot to all of us to fall in line".

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Opposition MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke began the traditional group dance after being asked if her party supported a controversial bill - which has since been voted down - to redefine the country's founding treaty.

The haka could have "initimidated" other lawmakers, the committee ruled, recommending that she be suspended for a week and Te Pāti Māori (Māori Party) co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer be banned for 21 days.

The Māori Party criticised the recommendations as a "warning shot to all of us to fall in line".

"When tangata whenua resist, colonial powers reach for the maximum penalty," it said in a statement on Wednesday, using a Māori phrase that translates to "people of the land".