Barry Soper: Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent on House Speaker Gerry Brownlee moving to crack down on bad behaviour in Parliament

Parliament's Speaker will meet MPs across the House today, as he cracks down on behaviour. 

Gerry Brownlee's spoken about Te Pati Māori's newest MP,  Oriini Kaipara, going over-time in her maiden speech on Thursday, and joining a haka that started in the public gallery. 

He now says he'll convene Parliament's Business Committee to discuss dress standards, attendance records, leave, and the allocation of questions. 

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says last week's rule-breaking from Oriini Kaipara was the straw that broke the camel's back.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Apparently we score as in New Zealand, we score at
three point three out of five as a place to die.
We will deal with that in half an hour's time.
Right now it is fourteen away from five of Barries Soper,
Senior political correspondence with US.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hallo, Barry, did you make that announcement just because.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
I was nothing to do with you? But you do
sound like you're dying.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Right, a bit of a croaky voice.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
But I know what's wrong with you is you just
went for a long lunch. And you know I wasn't
correct along the booze. I wasn't suggesting it is booze,
but it was a longer than normal lunch. He's talked
a lot.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
I did talk a lot.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yes what I've heard, Yeah, okay. Anyway, So what do
you make of Jerry cracking down on Parliament?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Well, you know, clearly he's had enough, hasn't he. The
standards in Parliament they've certainly been slipping. We've talked about
it on this program many a time. Began with Trevor
Mallard and he relaxed the dress code and Parliament now
they're wearing T shirts, they're wearing sneakers, they're wearing jeans,
I mean honestly and don't forget the way that Mallard

(00:59):
treated the testers Barry Manilow and has put the sprays
on the front of the parliamentary lawn. Last Thursday's speech
by maiden speech by Areny Kuiper that essentially broke the
camel's back for Jerry. There'd been an agreement with the
Maldi party that the speech and why Arta would last

(01:22):
no longer than fifteen minutes, which is the longest you
ever have a maiden speech. For well, that went well
over twenty minutes and the bell was ringing all the time,
So they can thank themselves the Maldi party that Brown
is now going to try and tighten the rule.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Last Thursday's engagement from the gallery could have been accommodated
if Alreny Kuipra had stuck to the Business Committee decision.
Choosing to ignore that turns celebration into disruption. More than that,
it highlights of fractice and at times any equitable parliament.
While I firmly believe that the atmosphere in Parliament is
the business of its members and that standing orders should

(01:59):
accommodate good humor and reasonable banter, it's my intention that
from this point I will more critically apply the limited
measures available to a speaker to ensure greater respect to
show and from members one to the other and to
the dignity of the House and the processes of the
House are upheld. Later this afternoon, I intend engaging the
Business Committee on changes to attendance records, to dress standards

(02:24):
and to leave provisions.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I think that's excellent and about time, and the attendance
standards that'll go down like a hot billow or of culture,
of culture thank you with the Maori Party, There's no
doubt about that.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Because but I'm going to take what he's doing because
what are any kype of it did wrong? Had nothing
to do with attendance records and nothing to do with
the way that she was dressed. She was actually dress
perfectly fine, right, So he is cracking a completely different
nut to the one that he's complaining of.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
He's talking about basically standards in Parliament that have been
slipping now for some years and they really have to
be restored. And that's what he's talking about. And that
was an example of the standard slipping. When Kuyper went
off on her own and did her own thing.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
But it's clearly designed to target the Marti Party, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Absolutely performative?

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Point the question for you why didn't he do this
ages ago? Because this was evidently a problem ages ago.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Ye, it's good, it's a good question. But it really
had to be done. I mean it really.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
It feels like trying to trying to shut the bundle
when the horse was already bolted.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, i'll tell you one of the horse bolts again.
They might be bolting out the exit.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
Okay, all right, So what do you What does Winston
had to say about the Middle East?

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well, the Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, he got a question
on developments on the Middle East and wasted no time
in pointing the finger.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
The silence over the past week from some of the
so called pro Palestinian protesters around this country has been
absolutely definitely. For two years they've rented and rave, infumed
and fulminated about the situation in Gaza. They have the
mander that we do more, give more, say more, and
virtue signal more. And then over the past Vegas a

(04:09):
peace deal has been struck, Adios omegos as a ceasefire
has taken hold. Adios to war and welcome to peace
from them. Not a murder, not a murmur not a
civil not a sound. Anti Americanism or any other sentiment
is of no value when you're concerned about peace, and
particularly if you're some American Twitter arrived here five minutes ago.

(04:30):
It doesn't give a concern about this country's initiative and
his peace over the years.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
So who is referring to? There was an interjector, Ricardo
Mendez March, who came of course from Mexico. That was
the adios.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
But he makes a good point, doesn't he. That is
just it is just radio silence from the people who've
got exactly what they wanted, which is an end to
the piece.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, the thing that interested me that the Labor Party,
the Greens Party, the Maldi Party, who been on their
feet all the time about the Middle East, in Palestine
and blah blah. Not one question they could have asked
it today of Winston Peters. Not one question came from
those quarters, just quickly.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Jim Boulger's not well, oh, just before.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
I leave Winston, he's speaking the Oxford Union debate. The
end of next week has been announced to it. But
I've got that on good authority, thank you and very
sadly Jim Bolger, of course led this country for some
considerable time in the nineties. He's in the Palate of
care Ward now in Wellington Hospital and his family has
been summoned. So you know, he was a very entertaining

(05:37):
character and a good man to deal with when he
was the Prime Minister. And I was a working journo
there and.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
Your voice sounded a lot like it does today. Yes
it does, it would have or down in Parliament. Appreciate
it very so for senior political correspondent.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
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