Members of New Zealand's parliament have rallied the international community in support of the island country's indigenous groups, as contentious legislation moves forward that could threaten Maori support systems.

In protest, hundreds of demonstrators have set out on a nine-day hikoi (march) from New Zealands north to the capital, Wellington. The marchers have staged rallies in towns and cities along the way and are expected to arrive in Wellington on Tuesday,

A vote in New Zealand’s parliament was suspended and two legislators ejected when dramatic political theatre erupted over a controversial proposed law redefining the country’s founding agreement between Indigenous Maori and the British Crown.

This is the moment New Zealand Maori MPs disrupt parliament with a haka to protest against a treaty bill. New Zealand’s parliament was briefly suspended on Thursday (14 November), after Maori members staged a haka to disrupt the vote on a contentious bill that could reinterpret an 184-year-old treaty between the British and Indigenous Maori.

Hundreds of people on Monday set out on a nine-day march to New Zealand's capital of Wellington in protest over legislation that would reinterpret a treaty at the heart of race relations in the Pacific country.

A hīkoi (protest march) spanning the entirety of New Zealand's north island rallying against the government's constitutionally consequential 'Treaty Principles Bill' began Monday from Cape Reinga,