Will's Word: Haka, hearings, and the hunger for change

Good on Te Pāti Māori for challenging a parliament that still seems to think it's sitting in 19th-century England.

Genuinely, why are we still running this country like we're just a mini-Westminster? I'd argue that New Zealand is shifting further and further from its colonial roots, whether those in power like it or not.

The Privileges Committee calling in Te Pāti Māori MPs like they're school kids in trouble is so laughable to me and so outdated.

The MPs didn't just refuse to play by parliament's old boy rules, instead of bowing down to the process they saw as unjust, they decided to hold their own independent hearing and I'm all for it, frankly.

I'm sick of the Westminster model. I'm sick of being dominated by a parliamentary model from a country so far away from us.

Let's zoom out for a second because if you think about what all of this is about, this is about that one haka in parliament. Do you remember it last year? During the debate on the Treaty Principles Bill.

That's why Te Pāti Māori is in hot water with the Privileges Committee. It taps into a much bigger conversation about who we are as a country and what we should be as a country.

Inevitably, that includes the question of whether we should finally ditch the monarchy and become a republic. Why are we still swearing allegiance to a royal family that has zero relevance to most of us?

Perhaps this is blasphemy to say, but King Charles to me? Just an old man over in the United Kingdom.

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What else does he bring to my life? Every time something like this happens, it reminds us, or at least me, that we are overdue for real change.

A New Zealand that actually reflects the people who live here, not just the institutions we inherited from a country on the other side of the world.

So, honestly, Te Pāti Māori refusing to play by parliament's outdated rules? Just another sign that change is coming, inevitable, and needed to happen yesterday.

So once again, good on Te Pāti Māori for challenging the status quo because I, for one, am sick of the said status quo.

That’s Will's Word.