Rodney Hide.
ACT leader Rodney Hide says he will go to the police if his privileges complaint over the stoush between Trevor Mallard and Tau Henare goes unheard.
Mr Hide said last week he would lay a breach of privilege complaint with Speaker Margaret Wilson over the altercation which saw
Mr Mallard punch Mr Henare.
Ms Wilson told Parliament last week she had no jurisdiction over the lobbies outside the debating chamber where the incident took place.
But Mr Hide disagreed, and said he would lay a breach of privilege complaint anyway.
It is up to Ms Wilson whether she believes a case should be considered by Parliament's privileges committee.
Mr Hide believes he is not too late to lay a complaint at Parliament.
He believes Ms Wilson has made a mistake in saying she has no jurisdiction over the lobbies.
He also said today on Radio New Zealand he had only become aware of the punch on Thursday afternoon - the altercation happened Wednesday evening - and Mr Mallard had only admitted to punching Mr Henare on Thursday night, so he did not believe he had missed a deadline for laying a complaint.
Mr Henare accepted Mr Mallard's apology for hitting him and said he would take the matter no further.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has said police should investigate the assault, but that she would not lay a complaint because she had not witnessed the incident.
However, anyone can lay a complaint with police and Mr Hide said today that if his complaint to the Speaker went unheard, he would go to the police.
Mr Hide said Mr Mallard had punched Mr Henare "to the ground".
"The alternative to me making a complaint to the Speaker is actually to do nothing. I'm not prepared to do that. I do want to get to the bottom of it."
It was appropriate for him, in the first instance, to raise the matter with the Speaker and all the facts could come out - including over who hit out first - during hearings of the privileges committee.
But if the Speaker "for some technical reason refuses to act, I will be taking it to the police", Mr Hide said.
- NZPA
