“No such pledge was made by any such country as named by that questioner,” Peters responded.
Peters has repeatedly bristled at other MPs referring to the country as Aotearoa. The Speaker, however, is no longer hearing points of order over the use of the word.
“Are you sure?” asked Ferris.
“Yes, I am positive. Unlike you, you dickhead,” Peters responded.
The comment could be heard on the hot mic and has been recorded in Hansard, the official record of things said in the House.
Ferris later raised a point of order.
“I’ve witnessed many times in this House disparaging comments being made between sides, and I’m quite sure that being called a ‘dickhead’ would fall in line with that tikanga of the House,” he said.
The Speaker said he had not heard the allegation until Ferris brought it up, and encouraged Peters to withdraw and apologise.
Peters initially refused to apologise, arguing that Ferris had not raised the matter of offence. Ferris said he had taken personal offence, so Peters apologised.
“On the basis that when I was trying to get my thoughts together on the answer to Marama Davidson’s questions, he was interrupting me. I apologise for calling him what I said he was.”
As the matter was now in the hands of the Speaker, Peters would not answer questions about the incident on his way out of the House.
The New Zealand First leader is often critical about the language used by other MPs.
But in this case, he questioned whether the word he used was offensive.
“Is it bad language?” he asked reporters.
Peters instead said it was “wrong” that another MP was interfering with him being able to hear a question.
- RNZ
