Rude

Newshub reports:

The Māori Party voted against a motion in Parliament on Wednesday to congratulate Queen Elizabeth II on her 70-year reign, while the Greens’ James Shaw says debate over New Zealand’s future constitutional arrangements is “overdue”. …

In New Zealand’s Parliament on Wednesday, members of the five political parties rose to speak on a motion to congratulate Aotearoa’s Head of State on the occasion. 

While Labour, National, ACT and the Greens all voted to support the motion, Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Rawiri Waititi said his party “absolutely refute” it and voted against it. 

“We were disappointed when the Prime Minister acknowledged the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on Waitangi Day. We believe it was tone deaf and colourblind to the degradation of the rights of tangata whenua for 182 years.”

You can support NZ becoming a republic, but also appreciate the job the Queen has done for the last 70 years. It is pretty rude to vote against a simple motion congratulating her for her reign.

I am a strong supporter of New Zealand becoming a republic. In fact I used to serve on the national council of the Republican Movement. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think the Queen hasn’t been a model of a devoted constitutional monarch.

It is a shame two MPs were so churlish they can’t separate the wider issue from the person.