Labour MP Kieran McAnulty has been ordered to leave the House after a heated exchange with Speaker Gerry Brownlee over his handling of remarks made by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
Tensions flared in Parliament during Question Time, following controversy over comments Peters directed at Green MP Teanau Tuiono a day earlier. The dispute centred on Peters’ objection to Tuiono referring to the country as Aotearoa in his primary question.
On Wednesday, Peters interrupted proceedings by asking why a minister was answering a question from “someone who comes from Rarotonga to a country called New Zealand”, prompting loud objections from MPs across the chamber. Brownlee later said he had not heard the initial remark at the time.
Peters went on to question why someone from Rarotonga had decided, “without any consultation with the New Zealand people”, to change the country’s name. Brownlee ruled that such a question was not acceptable and said it would be the last time questions were directed so personally at another member.
Tuiono, who has Māori and Cook Islands Māori heritage, was born in New Zealand.
Ahead of Thursday’s Question Time, Brownlee addressed the House, describing it as “highly disorderly” to question an elected member’s rights and privileges. He warned that members who engaged in such comments could expect to be ejected.
“Such comments are not only disrespectful to the member concerned, but also to this House, and also disrespectful to the electors in the electoral process that allows members to sit in this House,” Brownlee said.
While he reviewed the exchange, Brownlee did not refer to Peters by name. He also reiterated his earlier ruling from March 2025 that the use of Aotearoa in the House is not a matter of order, warning that further challenges to that ruling would be considered highly disorderly.
Labour MPs challenged the Speaker’s decision not to require Peters to withdraw and apologise. Shadow Leader of the House Kieran McAnulty argued that precedent had been set in August last year when Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick was required to withdraw and apologise for comments made the previous day.
McAnulty said failing to take similar action risked applying different standards to different MPs. Brownlee acknowledged that concern and said he would seek to avoid inconsistency in future.
Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March also questioned whether Peters should correct his statement about Tuiono’s birthplace, suggesting it was factually incorrect. Brownlee said if there were concerns about a breach of privilege, there were formal processes to address it.
The exchange escalated after Brownlee warned Labour MP Willie Jackson over repeated interruptions. McAnulty then raised a further point of order, suggesting Jackson was effectively on notice for removal while Peters had faced no consequences.
When McAnulty accused the Speaker of double standards and suggested racist comments had not been dealt with appropriately, Brownlee ordered him to leave the House.
Speaking to media shortly after his removal, McAnulty said the decision proved his point.
“We challenged the Speaker today in a respectful and highly appropriate way, and yet I’m the one that gets kicked out,” he said, adding that Labour had lost confidence in Brownlee.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters rejected comparisons between his situation and Swarbrick’s earlier ejection, saying the circumstances were not parallel. He also said he was not sorry for his remarks.
Peters defended his comments as opposition to changing the country’s name without public consultation, describing such a move as “antidemocratic”.
The confrontation has added to ongoing tensions in Parliament over language, identity and the consistency of rulings from the Speaker’s chair.
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