By Craig McCulloch, RNZ News acting political editor
New Zealand Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has been ejected from Parliament’s debating chamber and told to leave for the rest of the week after a fiery speech about the war in Gaza.
The incident occured during an urgent debate this afternoon which was called after the coalition government’s announcement that it would come to a formal decision in September over whether to recognise the state of Palestine.
As Swarbrick came to the end of her contribution, she challenged coalition MPs to back her member’s bill allowing New Zealand to apply sanctions on Israel “for its war crimes”.
Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick asked to leave Parliament after Gaza speech Video: Parliament TV
“If we find six of 68 government MPs with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history,” Swarbrick said.
Almost immediately, Speaker Gerry Brownlee condemned the remark as “completely unacceptable” and demanded she “withdraw it and apologise”.
Swarbrick shot back a curt — “no” — prompting Brownlee to order her out of the chamber for the remainder of the week.
“Happily,” Swarbrick said, as she rose to leave.
Green Party whip Ricardo Menéndez March later stood to question the severity of punishment, saying Parliament’s rules suggested Swarbrick should be barred for no more than a day.
Brownlee later clarified that Swarbrick could come back to the debating chamber on Wednesday, but only if she agreed to withdraw and apologise.
“If she doesn’t, then she’ll be leaving the House again,” he said.
“I’m not going to sit in this chair and tolerate a member standing on her feet . . . and saying that other members of this House are spineless.”
‘What the hell is the point?’ — Swarbrick
Speaking outside the debating chamber, Swarbrick described the ruling as “ridiculous” and the punishment excessive.
“As far as the robust debate goes in that place, I think that was pretty mild in the context of the war crimes that are currently unfolding.”
She drew a comparison with comments made by former prime minister Sir John Key in 2015 when he challenged the opposition to “get some guts”.
Swarbrick said she was tired and angry at the massacre of human beings.
“What the hell is the point of everything that we do if the people in my place, in my job don’t do their job?” she said.
“If we allow other human beings to be just mercilessly slaughtered, to be shot while waiting for food aid, what hope is there for humanity?”
Swarbrick was not the only MP to run afoul of the Speaker during today’s debate.
Earlier, Labour MP Damien O’Connor was told to either exit the chamber or apologise after interjecting while Foreign Minister Winston Peters was speaking. O’Connor stood and left.
Brownlee also demanded ACT MP Simon Court say sorry — which he did — after Court accused Swarbrick of “hallucinating outrage”.
Government urges caution, opposition demands action
In his speech, Court said any recognition of a Palestinian state must be conditional on all Israeli hostages being returned and Hamas being disarmed and dismantled.
“Security must come before politics,” he said.
No National MPs spoke during the urgent debate.
Peters — who is also NZ First leader — told MPs the matter of Palestinian statehood was not a straightforward or clear-cut issue.
“There are strong opinions on both sides,” he said. “That is why we are approaching this issue carefully, judiciously and calmly.”
Peters also took umbrage with the opposition’s complaints, pointing out Labour never moved on the matter when it was in government.
In a 10 minute speech, Labour foreign affairs spokesperson Peeni Henare said New Zealand was being left behind as the coalition walked into a “sunset of denial”.
“How many more people will suffer and how many more people will die?”
‘Despicable’ justifications
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer told MPs it was “despicable” to hear the justifications for another month’s delay.
“What will be left? Rubble? Martyred spirits? What is that you want to have left in a month’s time?” she said. “I have never been more ashamed to be in the House than I am today.”
In her speech, Swarbrick told MPs libraries of evidence demonstrated that the events unfolding in Palestine were “ethnic cleansing… apartheid [and]… genocide”.
“We are a laggard, we are an outlier,” she said. “We are one of the very few countries in the world who so far refuse to acknowledge the absolute bare minimum.”
Earlier, during Parliament’s Question Time, ACT leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour objected to Swarbrick having a Palestinian scarf, or keffiyeh, draped across her seat.
“I invite you to consider what this House might look like if everybody who had an interest in a global conflict started adorning their seats with symbols of one side or another of a conflict,” he said.
“I think that would bring the House into disrepute and no member should be allowed to do such a thing.”
Brownlee said Seymour raised a good point, only for Swarbrick to then wrap the scarf around her neck.
“Oh, here we go,” he said. “Well, stay warm. We’ll move on now.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
