Te Pāti Māori has written to the Speaker to demand “swift and uncompromising action” following what they call an “abhorrent outburst” from Winston Peters in the House.

The political party wants the New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister censured and forced to make a public apology. It also wants Speaker Gerry Brownlee to make it clear that “bigotry will not be given a platform in the House”.

“This is not just about one comment – it’s about defending the dignity of our language, our culture, and our tamariki against those who seek to diminish them.”

Peters was travelling to Thailand in his capacity as Foreign Affairs Minister on Friday, but he sent the Herald a response to Te Pāti Māori’s letter: “They have been so seduced by their own unrightful acquisition of power they cannot tolerate anyone challenging their unrifled use of it.”

He also posted on X (formerly Twitter) saying Te Pāti Māori’s claims were hypocritical and the party was a “bunch of coward bully boys”.

Te Pāti Māori’s letter spins out of an incident in the House on Wednesday amid questioning from Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime to Education Minister Erica Stanford about cuts to Te Ahu o te Reo Māori - a te reo Māori course.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters in the House. 

Prime repeatedly interjected during an answer from Stanford, which appeared to lead Peters to stand and say: “Would students at te reo Māori lessons learn more if they kept their mouth shut while the teacher was talking?”

While Peters’ question seemed to be intended as a comment on Prime’s interjections, Te Pāti Māori’s Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi appeared to take offence, questioning how young Māori students may feel about the remark.

After Brownlee suggested Peters and Waititi take their argument outside, both yelled to each other that they “wouldn’t last five seconds”. Peters also claimed Waititi would be left “limping”.

The Deputy Prime Minister has since said Te Pāti Māori’s behaviour had been “pathetic”, “cowardly”, and “preposterous”.

On Friday morning, Te Pāti Māori shared a letter it said it had written to the Speaker about the incident, demanding “swift and uncompromising action” in the wake of Peters’ “abhorrent outburst”.

The party said the Speaker should “uphold the standards of Parliament and ensure it does not become a cesspit for racism and abuse”.

“To allow Peters’ remarks to go unpunished is to endorse hate speech and spit in the face of the values of respect, inclusivity, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”

The party is calling on other New Zealanders to endorse the letter by signing it online.

In his X post, Peters said his question in the House had been in reference to Prime’s interjections.

He said Te Pāti Māori’s claims about his standards in the House were hypocritical.

“They are a bunch of coward bully boys who can give it but can’t take it when someone stands up to them. NZ First will never stop fighting against the separatist ideology that is bringing our country down and is perpetuated by the likes of the Māori Party. They are a disgrace and a danger to the future of our country.”

The Speaker’s office said he didn’t reply to procedural matters prior to reporting to the House.

Peters has recently lamented what he’s called the lowering of standards in Parliament.

In September, Peters said Parliament was in a “state of decay” and took issue last month with a general debate contribution from Te Pāti Māori’s Tākuta Ferris that Peters believed suggested other MPs were “liars”. Ferris’ denial of that has led the issue to go before Parliament’s powerful Privileges Committee.

On Thursday, Peters faced claims he was being unparliamentary when he said MPs shouldn’t “shout out like a sick idiot”. He said that was appropriate as he had used a simile that wasn’t directed at anyone in particular.

The Greens’ musterer, Ricardo Menéndez March, wasn’t happy with Peters’ choice of language.

“There was some quite, what I thought, unparliamentary language, referring to members opposite to him, calling them quote, ‘sick idiots’. I think that is pretty, like, disgusting and I just want to raise with you what I think is the Deputy Prime Minister’s lowering of standards in this House.”

Peters responded by saying someone raising a point of order should “get the facts right first”.

“Don’t get up and say what someone didn’t say. Go and listen to the parliamentary record and the member will know for the umpteenth time he is not understanding of how this House is properly run.”

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.