Winston Peters says Julie Anne Genter should face consequences for confronting a minister in the House.
The Green MP has apologised in Parliament and could face further disciplinary action after a complaint was made of intimidatory behaviour toward Minister Matthew Doocey on Wednesday night.
Genter walked across the debating chamber to Doocey, waved a booklet and spoke angrily to him while getting close to his face.
The incident happened at about 8pm, while Labour’s Nelson MP Rachel Boyack was speaking and followed some interjections between Doocey and Genter. It was visible in the background of the footage on Parliament TV.
“Miss Genter. Miss Genter, please resume your seat,” demanded the chair at the time, Barbara Kuriger.
“It’s not appropriate to get out of one’s seat to go and have an argument with somebody on the other side.”
Speaker Gerry Brownlee had to be recalled to the debating chamber to deal with the issue after National’s whip Scott Simpson asked Kuriger to do so.
Simpson said in Parliament that he had never seen anything like it, describing it as a “serious, intimidatory physical attack upon another member”.
The Deputy Prime Minister told Mike Hosking that Genter appeared to, quote, "lose the plot".
He says there are processes to discipline someone like that, and just apologising to Doocey for making him feel unsafe doesn't cut it.
Also last night, Peters gave a speech regarding AUKUS Pillar 2, and has said the details are still fairly new to him.
The Foreign Minister has outlined New Zealand's position to the Institute of International Affairs at Parliament.
He says we should be open to exploring the technology leg of the nuclear-powered submarine pact and what that could look like for us.
Peters told Hosking that he's still trying to find out exactly what Pillar 2 would entail.
He says in the middle of public discussions, all sorts of people are rushing to judgement without having been remotely briefed on the matter.
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