Chlöe Swarbrick kicked out of House after challenging Speaker’s ‘double standards’

The New Zealand Greens co-leader has been kicked out of the House, after challenging what she called the Speaker’s “double standards”.

Chlöe Swarbrick says there is a specific issue with the Speaker’s treatment of the Green Party compared to the “Right Honourable Winston Peters”.

The opposition used Question Time on Tuesday to canvass both Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s comments about small businesses, as well as his handling of Foreign Minister Winston Peters after he told Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to “go back to where you’ve come from” during a tirade in Parliament last week.

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Peters came under scrutiny by Labour leader Chris Hipkins, questioning Prime Minister  Luxon.

At one point Hipkins suggested former prime minister Helen Clark had “quietened him down when she dumped him from Cabinet.” Peters then rose, requesting Hipkins withdraw the comments because it was a “lie”.

The Speaker, Gerry Brownlee, said he would take a look at the Hansard and “come back to the House” on the issue.

Chlöe Swarbrick then requested a point of order, seeking guidance from the Speaker on the use of the word and accusation of a “lie”.

“You have punished me — personally — multiple times for the use of that word.

“I’m seeking your guidance as to whether this rule applies universally, or there’s one rule for us and another for him” she said, pointing at Peters.

Every situation different
Brownlee said every situation was different, and he would consider the issue later.

But later in Question Time, Swarbrick asked her own questions of the prime minister regarding official advice he’d received about the impacts of AI data centre.

She continued with questions about whether the “Data Grid AI centre” would raise electricity prices, and whether the government had commissioned cost-benefit analysis on the consenting of AI data centres.

Luxon said the advice the government had had was that “it won’t put an upward pressure on electricity prices” and they were taking more advice on the issue regarding a cost-benefit analysis.

Finally, Swarbrick asked:

“How many hyperscaled AI data centres does he understand might be consented before we receive the official cost-benefit analysis and understanding of impact on our energy grid and electricity prices?”

Luxon responded saying there were “around about 60 data centres in New Zealand today” and three expected to “come on stream”.

PM heckled on data centres
During the answer, Swarbrick heckled the prime minister, asking if he knew the difference between a data centre and an AI data centre.

The Speaker interrupted, saying she had already asked her question.

“You can raise it in a different way, but don’t do it across the floor of the house,” Brownlee said.

Brownlee was about to move onto the next question, when a number of MPs raised their voices and he interjected again.

“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!”

Swarbrick then raised another point of order, and said “respectfully, the problem is your double standards”.

Brownlee responded by saying “the member will leave the house”.

‘Winston Peters is being treated differently to everybody else’
Speaking to reporters after she left the house, Swarbrick stood by her comments saying it was “well documented”.

She said the Greens had written to the Speaker and met with him “multiple times” about the “demonstrable fact” there was uneven standards being applied, “particularly in the context of the Green Party, and when it comes to the behaviour of the Right Honourable Winston Peters.”

Swarbrick gave the example of Peters being “allowed off the hook” for accusing the other side of lying.

“This is something which Gerry Brownlee has consistently told me that I have to stand up, withdraw, and apologise for, and a standard that he’s also applied to Labour members of the House.”

She acknowledged the Speaker had a “difficult job”, but the “baseline thing” he can do was “apply the same standards to members across this house”.

“Winston is so frequently heckling when people are asking questions.

“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 rules should be applied fairly.”