Pop star Lorde has thrown her support behind a ‘floor shaking’ Haka by Maori politicians that suspended the New Zealand Parliament and delayed a controversial bill.

The libertarian ACT Party, a minor partner in New Zealand’s National Party-led coalition, has introduced a bill that will radically change how the Treaty of Waitangi is interpreted.

The Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand’s founding document, an agreement signed between the British Crown and around 540 Maori chiefs on February 6, 1840.

It still defines the relationship between Maori and ruling authorities.

But the ACT claims it grants Maori greater legal and political rights and their bill will bring an end to what they describe as ‘division by race’.

The bill has prompted waves of protests and warnings from academics and lawyers that it will negatively impact Maori rights.

These protests spilled over into parliament on Thursday after the bill was introduced two weeks before it was originally due to be scheduled.

As each party was called to provide their votes for the Treaty Principles Bill on Thursday afternoon, Hauraki Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke of the Te Pati Maori Party erupted into a haka.

Furious parliamentary speaker Gerry Brownlee attempted to stop the performance.

But the entire public gallery and Te Pāti Māori MPs continued with the haka, as Labour and Green MPs stood in apparent support of the protest.

Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi performed the haka directly in front of ACT Party seats, looking directly at their leader David Seymour who has been a vocal proponent of the bill.

The speaker then suspended parliament, later describing the haka as ‘grossly disorderly’ and calling it ‘appallingly disrespectful conduct inside the House’.

But they had the support of one of New Zealand’s biggest cultural exports – with singer and songwriter Lorde praising the dramatic stunt.

‘Utmost grace,’ she posted to social media, before using an expletive to describe the Treaty Principles Bill.

The Treaty Principles Bill has now passed its first reading with the support of the National, NZ First and ACT parties.

It will return to Parliament next year to be voted on again.

Up to 8,000 demonstrators are currently marching across New Zealand’s North Island in opposition to the bill.

A Haka is a ceremonial war dance performed in Maori culture involving chanting and vigorous body movements.

There are multiple different kinds of hakas that can be performed for different occasions.

For example, the New Zealand rugby team – the All Blacks – perform a haka before each test match.