The ACT New Zealand party, junior partner in the ruling coalition government, last week unveiled a bill to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi into law.

David Seymour, ACT leader and author of the bill, argued on Thursday that for two centuries the treaty had given Māori “different rights from other New Zealanders”.

However, those who defend the treaty argue that this is the bottom line, because it helped them win billion-dollar land deals, secure representation in state and local governments, and gain the Maori language more widely adopted.

But Mr Seymour – who is Māori – said no law or court had actually definitively defined the principles of the treaty, leading to divisions.

His bill filled “a silence that this Parliament left for five decades,” he added.

“Shame! Shame! Shame on you, David Seymour,” shouted Willie Jackson, a veteran Māori MP, in parliament.

“Shame on you for what you are trying to do to this nation,” she shouted, before being expelled for calling Mr Simour a liar.

Ms Maipi-Clarke, who started the haka, was also suspended from Parliament for a day.

Protests across the country

Hundreds of protesters against the legislation have undertaken a nine-day march, or hikoi, from northern New Zealand to the capital Wellington, holding rallies in towns and villages as they head south .

They will arrive in Wellington next Tuesday where tens of thousands of people are expected to gather for what is expected to be one of the largest race relations marches in the country’s history.

Coalition partners the National Party and New Zealand First are only supporting the bill at the first of three readings under the coalition agreement with Mr Seymour’s ACT.

Both parties have said they will not support this bill becoming law, meaning it will almost certainly fail.