Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has been thrown out of Parliament's debating chamber after accusing the Speaker of "double standards", amid a row involving Winston Peters' "racist" remark to a Chinese MP.
The ejection came during question time as Swarbrick asked Prime Minister Christopher Luxon about AI data centres, and after Peters said a statement made by Labour leader Chris Hipkins earlier in the debate was "false".
The PM said there were "around about 60 data centres in New Zealand today", with three expected to come on stream, prompting the Greens co-leader to interject.
As Swarbrick began speaking in the middle of the PM's answer, Speaker Gerry Brownlee intervened to say the question had already been asked and moved the House on.
"You raise it in a different way, but don't do it across the floor of the House. So we'll move on," Brownlee said, before calling for quiet in the chamber.
"Everyone is making far too much noise in here, and then turning around expecting me to interpret what a whole 123 people are saying. It's ridiculous," he said.
Swarbrick then raised a point of order.
"Respectfully, the problem is your double standards," she told the Speaker.
"The member will leave the House," Brownlee responded.
Talking to reporters afterwards, Swarbrick said the Greens had written to and met with the Speaker several times, and was referring to Peters.
Winston Peters took a few questions at Parliament about the issue before walking off. (Source: 1News)
"We've written to the Speaker and met with him multiple times about the demonstrable fact that there are uneven standards that are being applied, particularly in the context of the Green Party, and when it comes to the behaviour of Winston Peters," she said.
"Am I seriously going to be the worst offender in this for merely daring to point out that the rules are being applied unequally?"
Asked whether the Greens retained confidence in Brownlee, she said: "I don't have confidence in any member of this Government.
"They are all actively complicit in upholding and enabling the racism in this place."
China has officially expressed concern and the Prime Minister today said the comments were racist (Source: 1News)
When a reporter noted the Speaker is not a member of the Government, Swarbrick said: "No, but I mean, he is a National Party member at the end of the day, and look, he also has the opportunity to uphold the integrity of this institution."
"Winston is so frequently heckling when people are asking questions," she said.
"You can see this stuff happening. Your eyes aren't lying to you — Winston Peters is being treated differently to everybody else, and I guess it should just be a baseline expectation that all of us in this place have, that the rule should be applied fairly."
The row sits against a wider dispute over comments Peters made the previous week, when he told Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to "go back to your own country" while responding to heckling during a speech in the House.
Luxon has described those comments as "racist" and "offensive", but the NZ First leader refused to apologise for them when asked earlier today.
NZ First leader, who is also Foreign Minister, made the remark responding to heckling during a speech in the House. (Source: 1News)
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the party had written to Brownlee, seeking action over Peters' remarks.
"We were very clear that this is unacceptable racism. At the very least, Mr Peters should withdraw and apologise for his remark," Davidson said.
She told media in response to questions that Xu-Nan was "doing well".
"What he wants people to know is that this is not just about him," Davidson said. "This is about migrant communities, but also all of our communities and our relationship with migrant communities. Like us, he wants to uphold standards, and we shouldn't be racist."
Swarbrick said: "If the Speaker is supposed to be the referee, I think a lot of New Zealanders are probably looking at the way that he is doing that refereeing and seeing that things are pretty bloody unfair."
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