Speaker Gerry Brownlee boots two MPs from House within minutes
Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee kicked two MPs from the House within minutes as Parliament began its last sitting block before the election.
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said Brownlee was having a “bad day” and needed more patience.
Labour MP Ginny Andersen was the first person booted from the House after she heckled National MP Carl Bates as he answered a question.
Brownlee said he had given “quite clear instruction” to politicians and that Andersen “might like to leave the House now”.
“No, it wasn’t funny at all, I wasn’t making a joke, I was taking it very seriously – please leave the House,” he said.
Seymour was kicked out of the House while trying to answer questions from Act MP Laura McClure about the party’s hospitality sector review.
Brownlee told Seymour to make his answer to the next question shorter, but the Act leader said he was being concise. Brownlee prevented a second question from being asked.
Seymour raised a point of order, arguing MPs had a right to ask questions and McClure did not deserve “to lose that right because you don’t believe that I am answering it correctly”.
Brownlee rebutted and told Seymour to read up on Standing Orders, the rules of Parliament.
“You argued with me, which wasn’t a smart thing to do. It is not progressing.”
When Seymour responded from his seat in the House, Brownlee kicked him out.
“The Speaker was clearly having a bad day,” Seymour told reporters as he left the House.
He said answering questions during Question Time was a way people could learn what the Government was doing.
“The hospitality sector review is very good. If the Speaker is grumpy because it takes me a long time to list all of the things we are doing for the hospitality sector, I think he needs to show a bit more patience.
“Unfortunately, you have a Speaker who doesn’t seem to have the temper or disposition for the job. I certainly think he is being pretty grumpy and unreasonable and he’s denied the people [the chance] to hear what is happening in the hospitality sector.”
Seymour teased Brownlee and said perhaps he was “hangry” because he was “missing his lunch because he was watching the horses”.
Earlier, about 40 people on horseback arrived outside Parliament to protest Government policies they believe undermine the Treaty of Waitangi and negatively affect Māori rights. They presented a petition signed by more than 52,000 to MPs.
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
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