Fiery speech by the youngest member of the New Zealand Parliament (2 photos + 1 video)
7 January 2024
New Zealand MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clark decided to convey her words through Maori song and ritual dance. 
New Zealand's youngest Member of Parliament in 170 years, Hana-Rawiti Maipi-Clarke, gave a speech in Parliament.
A 21-year-old representative of the indigenous Maori people, elected to the New Zealand parliament last fall, recently gained worldwide fame by speaking to colleagues in her native language, singing the song: “Lightning flashed, thunder struck and rain poured from Kohanga to the roof of parliament.” Hana replaced Nanaia Mahuta, who had held the post for more than 20 years.
Several family members of the indigenous Maori woman were involved in politics. In addition to Maipi-Clark's great-great-great-great-grandfather Wiremu Katene, who was the first Minister of Māori Affairs in 1872, her aunt, Hana Te Hemara, was responsible for presenting a Māori language petition to Parliament in 1972, and in 2018 her grandfather, Taitimuu Maipi, made headlines for vandalizing a statue of Captain John Hamilton, considered the chief colonizer of indigenous peoples.
