WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A vote in New Zealand’s parliament was suspended and two lawmakers expelled from parliament on Thursday as dramatic political theater erupted over a controversial bill that redefined the country’s founding agreement between indigenous Māori and the British Crown.

Under the principles set out in the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, which guides the relationship between the government and Māori, tribes were promised broad rights to retain their lands and protect their interests in return for ceding the administration to the British. The bill would specify that these rights should apply to all New Zealanders.

The bill has little support and is unlikely to become law. Opponents say it threatens racial strife and constitutional unrest, with thousands of New Zealanders traveling across the country this week to protest against it.

Despite its unpopularity, the proposed law was voted on for the first time on Thursday after dominating public discussion for months, reflecting a quirk in New Zealand’s political system that allows small parties to negotiate major influence over their agendas . It also reflects unease among some New Zealanders about accelerated progress in recent years towards fulfilling the promises made to Māori when the country was colonised.

Decades after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, differences between the English and Māori texts and encroachments by New Zealand governments have reinforced Māori disenfranchisement.

By the mid-20th century, indigenous language and culture had dwindled, much tribal land was confiscated, and Māori were disadvantaged in every way. As the Indigenous protest movement took off in the 1970s, lawmakers and the courts slowly began to clarify what they understood by the treaty that promised Māori: partnership with the Crown, participation in decision-making and protection of their interests.

“What all these principles have in common is that they offer Māori different rights to other New Zealanders,” said David Seymour, leader of the small libertarian party ACT and author of the bill.

For those who defended the treaty, that’s the point. The work included billions of dollars worth of land settlements, the embrace of the Māori language, guaranteed representation in central and local government and efforts through policy to reverse the deep inequalities that Indigenous people still face.

But Seymour – who is Māori – said no law or court had actually set out a definitive definition of the treaty’s principles, and that had been divisive. His bill filled “a silence that this parliament has left for five decades,” he said.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon disagrees, but his party voted in favor of the bill on Thursday to fulfill the political deal with Seymour that gave Luxon power. With insufficient seats to govern after last October’s elections, Luxon won the support of two smaller parties – including Seymour’s ACT, which won less than 9% of the vote – in exchange for political concessions.

Luxon told Seymour that his party would vote for the bill once, while publicly promising it would go no further.

The treaty’s principles have been negotiated and debated for 184 years, Luxon told reporters on Thursday, and it was “simplistic” of Seymour to suggest they could be resolved “with the stroke of a pen.”

Government lawmakers made awkward speeches in parliament, explaining their opposition to the bill before voting for it, amid mockery from opponents, who demanded they break ranks. Luxon was spared that; he left the country just hours before the vote for the meeting of leaders from the Asia-Pacific APEC bloc.

His political horse-trading drew scorn from opposition lawmakers.

“Shame! Shame! Shame on you, David Seymour,” roared Willie Jackson, a veteran Māori lawmaker. “Shame on you for what you are trying to do to this country.”

Jackson was thrown out of the debate hall by chairman Gerry Brownlee for calling Seymour a liar.

“You are complicit in the harm and division this will cause,” Rawiri Waititi, a lawmaker from Te Pāti Māori, an indigenous group, said in a conversation with everyone who introduced the bill.

“If you vote for this bill, this is you,” Green party leader Chloe Swarbrick told Luxon lawmakers.

No one deviated from their planned votes and the bill passed. But not before a final flashpoint.

When asked how her party’s lawmakers would vote, Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke stood up and began a jangling haka – a rhythmic Māori challenge song – that swelled to a roar as first opposition lawmakers and then as spectators in the public gallery. , joined.

An irate Brownlee was unable to calm the fight as opponents approached Seymour’s seat. The live broadcast of Parliament’s proceedings was halted and Brownlee ordered the audience to be removed before voting resumed.

He suspended 22-year-old Maipi-Clarke from parliament for a day.

The bill will move to a public submission process before another vote. Seymour is hoping for an outpouring of support to change Luxon’s mind about the veto.

The proposal will soon stir Parliament again. Thousands of protesters will arrive in the capital Wellington on Tuesday for what is likely to be one of the largest race relations marches in New Zealand’s history.