The Speaker has 'named' Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick for refusing to leave the House.
Swarbrick was ejected from Parliament on Tuesday after refusing to withdraw and apologise for comments suggesting coalition MPs grow a spine and sanction Israel.
At the time, the Speaker Gerry Brownlee barred Swarbrick for the rest of the week unless she apologised when the House sat this afternoon.
Swarbrick refused to do so, and refused to leave.
Naming is a punishment handed down by a Speaker for a MP whose conduct is disorderly.
Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick was barred from Parliament for a week due to her Gaza speech on Tuesday. Photo: Screengrab / Parliament TV
Speaking to RNZ on Wednesday morning, Swarbrick said the party had received correspondence from legal experts and the public pointing out "far worse" things had been said by other MPs, where the Speaker had chosen not to intervene.
"It just doesn't really wash."
Swarbrick said she would prefer Parliament's attention was focused on the "real issues of the day" and re-iterated her call for more action against Israel.
"New Zealanders want action, and if our House can come together on the point of sanctioning Israel for its war crimes, then that finally would bring us in line with our legacy of standing for human rights and justice."
Otago University professor Andrew Geddis told RNZ it was unusual for Swarbrick to be asked to withdraw and apologise, given many MPs had made similar comments in Parliament before without consequence.
Professor Andrew Geddis said Swarbrick's ban was "unusual". (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
He said the standard penalty for challenging the Speaker's authority was to be ordered out of the House for one day.
A week-long punishment, Geddis said, was inconsistent with other rulings made by Speakers in recent times.
"If the Speaker is starting to almost make up the rules as he goes along, he puts at risk the preparedness of other MPs to accord him his authority.
"MPs might start asking, 'well, if the Speaker is just going to do their own thing with no regard to precedence, do we really trust them to have that sort of power?"
As it played out
The incident occurred during an urgent debate on Tuesday afternoon which was called after the coalition'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.
"If we find six of 68 government MPs with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history," Swarbrick said.
Almost immediately, Brownlee condemned the remark as "completely unacceptable" and demanded she "withdraw it and apologise".
Speaker Gerry Brownlee ordered Swarbrick out of the chamber on Tuesday. (File photo) Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
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."
Swarbrick was not the only MP to run afoul of the Speaker during Tuesday's debate.
Labour MP Damien O'Connor was told to either exit the chamber or apologise after interjecting "bloody gutless" 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".
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