Beaten, bloodied and bruised: The MPs attacked over the years

Punch-ups, late-night fracases, friction at Waitangi - Members of Parliament have not been strangers to attacks over the years.

Green Party co-leader James Shaw was the victim of an unprovoked attack in Wellington this morning as he walked to work.

It has sparked an outpouring of messages - including from MPs across the political spectrum - condemning violence and saying that people should be able to walk to work safely.

The attack this morning on Green Party co-leader James Shaw has sparked an outpouring of messages, including from MPs across the political spectrum, condemning violence. Photo / File

MPs have long been the target of attacks. In 1980, former National MP Dail Jones suffered a punctured lung in an attack in his electorate office by pensioner Ambrose Tindall, who was obsessed about a $15 traffic ticket.

NZ First MP Brian Donnelly was attacked in 2002. Photo / NZPA

In 2002, former NZ First MP Brian Donnelly was the victim of a late-night attack in downtown Wellington that left him bloodied and bruised.

It took place near a bar where NZ First leader Winston Peters got into a fracas with Wellington journalist John Crowley during the time of the 1996 coalition talks.

Several incidents have taken place at Waitangi, including two men who were sentenced to 100 hours' community work after jostling then-Prime Minister John Key as he arrived at Te Tii Marae in 2009, an attack that also knocked former Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples to the ground.

In 2004, after his infamous Orewa speech, mud was thrown at former National leader Don Brash, and in 2016 then-National MP Steven Joyce was hit in the face by a thrown dildo.

Former Act leader John Banks was also doused in mud on his way to a court appearance in 2014.

MPs have not always been on the receiving end.

In 1999, National MP Gerry Brownlee was accused of assaulting Neil Abel, a sympathiser of the Native Forest Action Group, and threatening to throw him down a staircase at National's election campaign launch.

Brownlee denied threatening Abel, but Abel won the civil case and was awarded $8500 in damages.

Brownlee has also been a victim, copping a bucket of muck in 2016 after he attended the five-year earthquake memorial in Christchurch.

Speaker Trevor Mallard has been involved in a number of incidents. In 2007, he had a punch-up with National MP Tau Henare in a corridor outside the debating chamber.

Ex-Minister John Banks attacked with a bucket of mud as he arrived to court in 2014. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Mallard pleaded guilty to a Summary Offences charge of fighting and agreed to pay $500 to the Salvation Army's Bridge drug and alcohol programme.

An assault charge was withdrawn over Mallard allegedly clipping National MP Bob Clarkson around the ears with a manila folder.

MPs' properties have also been targeted. In 2009 John Key's Helensville electorate office was attacked with a firebomb.

In 2007, then-Prime Minister Helen Clark's house was tagged with graffiti.

National MP Nick Smith's caravan was destroyed in a Molotov cocktail attack in 2005. Smith was also rubbed with rat poison last year by Nelson woman Rose Renton, who was found guilty of offensive behaviour.

Two Molotov cocktails were thrown inside the office East Coast MP Anne Tolley's office in 2016, and shots were fired through the front window of an electorate office of former Mana Party leader Hone Harawira in 2014.

Several MPs have received death threats over the years, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, while in 2011 a Palmerston North man was found guilty of threatening to kill then-prime minister John Key.