Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick was ordered to leave Parliament's debating chamber during Question Time after accusing Speaker Gerry Brownlee of applying "double standards" in enforcing the House's rules.
The incident unfolded while Swarbrick was questioning Prime Minister Christopher Luxon about artificial intelligence data centres. During the exchange, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters interrupted the debate, claiming a statement made earlier by Labour leader Chris Hipkins was "false", as quoted by 1News.
As Luxon responded that there were "around about 60 data centres in New Zealand today", with three more expected to become operational, Swarbrick interjected from the opposition benches.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee halted the exchange, telling Swarbrick the issue had already been raised.
"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 order in the chamber, as quoted by 1News.
As MPs continued talking over one another, Brownlee added, "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," 1News has quoted.
Swarbrick then stood on a point of order and challenged the Speaker's handling of proceedings, saying, "Respectfully, the problem is your double standards."
Brownlee immediately responded, "The member will leave the House," as quoted by 1News.
Speaking to reporters after her removal from the chamber, Swarbrick said her comments referred to what she described as inconsistent treatment of Winston Peters compared with other MPs.
"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, 1News has quoted.
Questioning the decision to remove her, Swarbrick added, "Am I seriously going to be the worst offender in this for merely daring to point out that the rules are being applied unequally?"
When asked whether the Greens still had confidence in Brownlee, she replied, "I don't have confidence in any member of this Government."
She further alleged, "They are all actively complicit in upholding and enabling the racism in this place," 1News has quoted.
After being reminded that the Speaker is independent in the role, Swarbrick responded, "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," as quoted by 1News.
Swarbrick also claimed Peters was frequently allowed to interrupt proceedings without consequence.
"Winston is so frequently heckling when people are asking questions," she said, 1News has quoted.
"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," as quoted by 1News.
The confrontation comes amid ongoing controversy over remarks Peters made in Parliament last week, when he told Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to "go back to your own country" during a heated exchange. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has since described those comments as "racist" and "offensive", although Peters has declined to apologise, 1News has quoted.
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said the party had formally written to Brownlee seeking action over Peters' comments.
"We were very clear that this is unacceptable racism. At the very least, Mr Peters should withdraw and apologise for his remark," Davidson said, 1News has quoted.
Providing an update on Xu-Nan, Davidson said, "What he wants people to know is that this is not just about him. 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," as quoted by 1News.
Swarbrick concluded by questioning the Speaker's impartiality.
"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," 1News has quoted.
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