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.
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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.
