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Green MP Nandor Tanczos has accused Labour MP Dover Samuels of "swanning off on a sightseeing tour with delegates' spouses" while on a parliamentary trip in Cape Town.
In his blog from the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU) in Cape Town, he took a swipe at Mr Samuels' actions
at the conference, which ended last Friday.
According to Mr Tanczos' blog, Mr Samuels' sins began when he hogged New Zealand's eight minute speaking slot in the plenary session. He was supposed to have split the time with Mr Tanczos, who had wanted to talk about China arms sales to Zimbabwe.
"I wouldn't have minded so much if he hadn't spent the whole time saying what a waste of time the IPU is before swanning off on a sightseeing tour with the delegates' spouses," Mr Tanczos said in his blog.
However, the delegation's leader National MP John Carter has defended Mr Samuels, and put Mr Tanczos' comments down to "a personality thing between he and Dover".
He said Mr Samuels went to all parts of the assembly he was expected to. He had one afternoon off, during which he went to Robben Island - previously a place of exile for lepers, the mentally insane, thieves, and political prisoners including Nelson Mandela.
Mr Samuels' speech concentrated on poverty and what New Zealand was doing to address it. Mr Carter said he did not recall any "derogatory" comments about the IPU.
He said he was inclined to put Mr Tanczos' comments down to him "being political and silly."
However, overall he said the delegation was successful - New Zealand had pushed to include the situation in Zimbabwe on the agenda, and the IPU had issued a strong statement.
Mr Carter said he was chosen to chair the Middle East Committee.
Mr Samuels and Mr Tanczos are among a number of MPs taking advantage of a three-week recess in Parliament for "last hurrah" trips.
Four of the five MPs on the current Speaker's tour to Europe are retiring from politics at the election - the Speaker Margaret Wilson, Labour MP Marian Hobbs and National MPs Katherine Rich and Brian Connell. The fifth member of the delegation is NZ First deputy leader Peter Brown.
Another retiring MP, National's Mark Blumsky, is off to Europe for a two-week seminar on inter-governmental relations.
