It was followed by fiery debates, insults, and a haka.

A haka, as some of you would know, is a traditional dance.

It is performed by the Maori community.

The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.

In 1840, they signed a treaty with the British Crown.

The treaty is New Zealand's founding document.

It has helped the indigenous Maori and European settlers co-exist.

This treaty also gives some special privileges to Maori to redress historical wrongs by the colonizers.

But some argue that this is discriminatory.

So they proposed a bill to alter the treaty, and this has stoked tensions in New Zealand.

Our next report tells you more.

New Zealand's parliament was temporarily suspended yesterday after Maori lawmaker Hana Rafiti Maipi-Clark stood up, tore her copy of a proposed legislation, and started performing the haka.

She performed a haka in January as well, when she made history by becoming the youngest member of the parliament.

But this time, she was also joined by other opposition members.

Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand.

Haka is a traditional group dance in the community.

And this time, it was a demonstration of their anger and fear over a bill which aims to reinterpret the country's founding treaty with its indigenous people.

It's called the Treaty of Waitangi.

It was signed in 1840 by Maori chiefs and the British Crown.

It laid the framework for co-existence between the indigenous Maori and the European settlers, and is considered New Zealand's founding document.

Even today, it forms the basis of the country's laws and policies, but it is also instrumental in upholding Maori rights and in redressing historical wrongs against Maori by the colonisers.

So the principles of the treaty have been evolving over the decades, progressively expanding the rights and privileges of the Maori people.

The Maori make up about 20 percent of New Zealand's population.

They remain disadvantaged compared to the general population.

They experience more material hardship.

They have worse health and education indicators.

There is a seven-year gap in life expectancy, and they are incarcerated at much higher rates than the population at large.

Yet, some argue that the treaty discriminates against non-indigenous citizens.

This includes ACT, the most right-wing member of New Zealand's conservative coalition government.

ACT wants equal rights.

It claims that special provisions for Maori have been divisive for the society.

So this month, it introduced a bill.

Shame on you, David Seymour.

The division that you are seeing was not caused by this bill.

It's been built up over decades, during which New Zealanders have come to regard themselves as based on ancestry or one side of a partnership instead of New Zealanders.

And what's worse, successive governments have encouraged that division.

The division is there whether this bill is here to reveal it or not.

But the bill has already stoked tensions in the country.

And I denounce this foul attempt to rewrite the constitutional framework of this nation simply because the Prime Minister is too weak to stop the dangerous extremism of the ACT Party.

The National Party, which is the main centre-right party in the governing coalition, has distanced itself from the bill.

Our position on why we don't support it is very clear.

Treaty issues are complex.

They've been negotiated, debated, discussed over 184 years.

It's simplistic to assume that you can, through the stroke of a pen, resolve all of that.

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.

After the first reading, lawmakers have voted to advance the bill, but Prime Minister Luxon wants the bill to be voted down in the second reading.

So the bill is unlikely to pass.

But this is not enough to placate the Maori.

At least 10,000 people are on a 10-day hikoi, meaning a peaceful protest march.

They are walking 450km to reach the capital of Wellington, after which they will stage a big rally.

So the message is simple.

The Maori are not going down without a fight, or in this case, a fiery haka.

Peata Melbourne, Te Karere.