The Latest Breaking News from David Seymour

New Zealand's divisive treaty debate continues with a huge rally in Wellington of protesters against a government bill to reinterpret the Treaty of Waitangi.

As tens of thousands of marchers thronged the streets in New Zealand’s capital Wellington, the column of people, flags aloft, had the air of a festival or a parade rather than a protest

New Zealand’s parliament was halted by politicians performing a haka

Māori opponents of a vote on the Treaty Principles Bill staged a haka in Parliament on Thursday

Controversial legislation revises the 184-year-old Treaty of Waitangi granting Maori tribes land rights.

The vote was for the controversial Treaty Principals Bill which seeks to reinterpret one of the country’s founding documents.

The bill objects to certain to "ethnic quotas in public institutions," arguing protections for Māori culture defy "the principle of equal rights."

A vote in New Zealand’s parliament was suspended and two lawmakers ejected Thursday amid debate over a controversial proposed law redefining the country’s founding agreement between Indigenous Māori and the British Crown

Voting temporarily suspended amid disruptions including a Māori party MP ripping up a copy of the bill

With the protest hikoi from the far north moving through Auckland on its way to Wellington, it might be said ACT leader David Seymour has been granted his wish of generating an “important national conversation about the place of the Treaty in our constitutional arrangements”.

Bill introduced in parliament this week wants to reinterpret Treaty of Waitangi, which upholds Māori rights