New Zealand’s parliament descended into chaos as Maori members staged a haka in protest against a bill that would “reinterpret” the country’s founding treaty.

The Treaty of Waitangi, first signed in 1840 between the British Crown and more than 500 Maori chiefs, was a guarantee of Maori rights and autonomy and resulted in the creation of New Zealand.

While clauses in the document still guide laws and policy, members of Christopher Luxon’s centre-Right ruling coalition have pushed for a narrower interpretation of the treaty in the face of fierce opposition.

As MPs gathered for a parliamentary vote on the bill on Thursday, footage showed Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, a Maori MP, tearing up her copy of the proposed legislation and starting a piercing haka.

Other MPs from Te Pati Maori (the Maori Party) and spectators in the gallery soon joined the war dance, made famous by New Zealand’s rugby team.

Gerry Brownlee, the Speaker, was unable to silence the opposition politicians as they left their seats. As chaos ensued, the live TV broadcast was cut and parliament briefly suspended. Two Maori MPs were subsequently removed from the chamber.

The legislation – which has dominated debate in New Zealand for months – later passed its first reading, but is highly unlikely to garner enough support on a second reading to pass into law.

It is seen by many Maori and their supporters as undermining the rights of the country’s indigenous people, who make up around 20 per cent of the population of 5.3 million. The move, they argue, threatens to promote racial discord and constitutional upheaval.

Thousands of New Zealanders are travelling the length of the country this week to protest against it.

The Treaty of Waitangi has long been a source of contention because key distinctions exist in its English and Maori forms.

Rulings by the courts and a separate Maori tribunal have progressively expanded Maori rights and privileges over the decades. However, critics of the pact argue that this has discriminated against non-indigenous citizens.

The ACT New Zealand party, a junior partner in the ruling coalition government, last week unveiled the bill to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Waitangi treaty in law.

David Seymour, the leader of ACT and the author of the bill, argued on Thursday that, for two centuries, the treaty has afforded Maori “different rights from other New Zealanders”.

However, those who champion the treaty argue that is the point because it has helped them win billion-dollar land settlements, guaranteed representation in national and local governments, and had the Maori language more widely embraced.

But Mr Seymour – who is Maori – said that no law or court had actually settled for good a definition of the treaty’s principles, and that had caused division. His bill filled “a silence this parliament has left for five decades”, he added

“Shame! Shame! Shame on you, David Seymour,” shouted Willie Jackson, a veteran Maori MP, in parliament. “Shame on you for what you’re trying to do to this nation.” She was then thrown out for calling Mr Seymour a liar.

Ms Maipi-Clarke, who began the haka, was also suspended from parliament for a day.

Hundreds of protesters against the legislation have set out on a nine-day march, or hikoi, from New Zealand’s north to the capital, Wellington, staging rallies in towns and cities as they move south.

They will arrive in Wellington next Tuesday, when tens of thousands are to gather for what is expected to be one of the largest race relations marches in the country’s history.

Coalition partners the National Party and New Zealand First are only supporting the legislation through the first of three readings as part of the coalition agreement with Mr Seymour’s ACT. Both parties have said they will not support it to become legislation, meaning it will almost certainly fail.

Donald Trump’s election to a second term as President of the United States puts him at the helm of not only the world’s economic and military superpower, but also a global health superpower.

From its huge healthcare industry, to its world beating aid budget, powerful public health bodies, pharmaceutical industry and leading scientific institutions, the US has long set the pace and tone on global health.

Now the content and tone of US messaging on health could change – and change dramatically.

Robert F Kennedy Jr – Mr Trump’s appointed man on health – is on a mission to shake up the global health establishment in a bid to “Make America Healthy Again”.

He wants to tackle chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, autism, cancer, and mental illness but tends to favour psychedelics over vaccines and raw milk over the pasteurised variety.

The former lawyer and nephew of JFK accuses big business, drug companies and conniving federal agencies of making the country more unhealthy with toxic chemicals and additives.

Last month he told officials at the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to “pack your bags” in the event of a Trump win.

While critics cast him as a conspiracy theorist, Mr Trump is a fan and has said he would appoint Mr Kennedy to “go wild on health”.

He told a rally last week: “I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on medicines.”

Trump staffers say Mr Kennedy will not be given the top health job, chief of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), but he is expected to be given a powerful “health tsar” type role.

So what would a Trump and Kennedy double act mean for global health?

Vaccines

Mr Kennedy says he is not anti-vaccine, only that he wants them to be safer. But he is accused of being a prominent spreader of vaccine misinformation and is certainly a vaccine sceptic.

He has repeatedly claimed for example that childhood vaccines are linked to autism, despite numerous studies having debunked the association.

In an interview last week, Mr Trump appeared open to the possibility of banning some vaccines, in light of Mr Kennedy’s opinions.

Mr Trump told NBC: “Well, I’m going to talk to him and talk to other people, and I’ll make a decision, but he’s a very talented guy and has strong views.”

Legal experts say Mr Trump would in fact struggle to unilaterally ban vaccines in the US.

Public health is governed by states, not the federal government. Vaccines are also licenced by the Food and Drug Administration, and the White House would not be able to simply remove a product from the market.

But just having a charismatic senior figure in the White House raising fears about jabs would be likely to significantly strengthen vaccine hesitancy both in America and around the world.

His appointment, if it is confirmed, comes as Russia has launched a new campaign aimed at undermining western backed vaccines in Africa.

Fluoride

Fluoride in water has been another of Mr Kennedy’s campaign issues.

The chemical which strengthens teeth has been added to US water supplies since 1945 to protect against tooth decay. Its use is common across the west, including in the UK.

Health agencies accept that while prolonged high levels of fluoride exposure can actually damage teeth and cognitive development, there are no side effects at the levels recommended for drinking water.

However, Mr Kennedy has vowed that a Trump White House would, on its first day, advise all US water systems to remove fluoride from public water.

He said: “Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.”

But advise may be all that Mr Kennedy can do, because water drinking water is controlled at the local level, not federal level.

Finishing off the health establishment

Mr Trump says he has unfinished business with the health establishment from his first term.

As the Covid pandemic raged through his presidency, he repeatedly clashed with domestic and international health organisations.

He has accused them of being corrupt, overbearing, unaccountable, self-interested and beholden to foreign powers.

At a recent rally, he appeared not to have mellowed. He told supporters: “We’ll take on the corruption at the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], the CDC [Centres for Disease Control], World Health Organization (WHO) and other institutions of public health that have dominated, and really are dominated by corporate power, and dominated really by China.”

In 2020, Mr Trump began the process of pulling America out of the WHO. Mr Biden reversed it as soon as he took power, but many expect Mr Trump to again consider a departure.

Mr Trump is also likely to torpedo any “pandemic treaty” which sets out nations’ obligations in the event of another global outbreak.

The Project 2025 blueprint drawn up by a right-wing think tank as a wish list for a Trump presidency, lists big reforms to the FDA, CDC and National Institutes of Health.

Mr Trump denies involvement in Project 2025, but its blueprint is expected to be influential in the new Republican administration.

The CDC for example, the main public health agency, would be broken in two, with its policy wings clipped. One part would publish data, the other would retain a “severely confined ability to make policy recommendations”.

Mr Kennedy recently said on social media the “FDA’s war on public health is about to end”.

“This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma.”

“If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags”.

Reproductive rights

Mr Trump’s three appointments to the US Supreme Court shaped its 2022 ruling taking away the constitutional right to abortion. Since then, 17 states have banned abortion entirely or severely restricted it, according to the Centre for Reproductive Rights.

Mr Trump has said he is against a national ban, and it is up to states to decide.

Ten states had votes on Tuesday night on whether to cement reproductive rights in their state constitutions. Seven voted to protect access, Missouri voted to expand access, South Dakota upheld its ban and in Florida, a proposal to expand access failed.

Worldwide, Mr Trump is expected to reimpose the Mexico City Policy, known by its opponents as the “global gag rule”.

The rule prohibits foreign NGOs who receive U.S. aid from providing abortion services or referrals, while also barring advocacy for abortion law reform – even if it’s done with the NGO’s own funds.

Mr Trump expanded the scope of the ban in his first term, decreeing that organisations taking any form of global health funding from the US had to adhere to it.

American aid largesse is so extensive that very few organisations refuse to sign up to the policy when it is in effect.

Obamacare

Republicans have repeatedly failed to overturn Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which was introduced to widen access to health insurance.

Mr Trump has said in debates that he wants to replace the scheme, but has been vague on what would follow.

“Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was,” he said.

“It’s not very good today and, what I said, that if we come up with something, we are working on things, we’re going to do it and we’re going to replace it.”

“If we can come up with a plan that’s going to cost our people, our population, less money and be better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it.”

Aid and global health

America is the biggest global health donor, with an annual spend of more than $12bn (£9bn) a year.

It provides a hefty chunk of the WHO’s core annual budget and is also a main funder of other UN agencies and international campaigns to combat disease, such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and Gavi: The Vaccine Alliance.

Some in the global health world fear Mr Trump would freeze, or even try to cut aid spending entirely in his second term in office.

Project 2025 calls for a shake-up of American aid, taking aim at funding for climate change programmes and women’s empowerment in particular.

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