Chris Bishop: Leader of the House explains why postponing Te Pāti Māori debate was the right move

The Leader of the House says postponing the debate on Te Pāti Māori MPs' sanctions is the right thing to do. 

Debate began today on proposed suspensions for the Te Pāti Māori MPs who did a haka during voting on the now-rejected Treaty Principles Bill. 

But 20 minutes in, the Government moved to adjourn it - to leave this week free to be all about the Budget. 

The opposition were blindsided.

Chris Bishop says he was under no obligation to tell them. 

"There'll be many a chance for people to have their say on the appropriate punishment in a couple of weeks. As it stands, the Government is in favour of the report of the Committee."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good afternoon. In a surprise move, the much anticipated debate
about whether or not to suspend the three Mali Party
MPs has been postponed. The Leader of the House, Chris Bishop,
called for the debate to be delayed.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
There is no more important role for Parliament than scrutinizing
and debating the budget. It is a confidence motion by
definition in the government. The government cannot govern without the
approval of the Parliament. Constitutionally, it is right that they participate,
so we are moving to adjourn the debate so that

(00:30):
this week can focus rightly on the budget.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
The motion passed, but Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins didn't like
that either.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Had they approached us this morning and said, look, we
wanted to furthest debate, we want to put it off
till later on, we would have been open to having
that conversation. We've been trying to talk to them for
the last forty eight hours. They haven't even bothered to
return phone calls, and then they do this. They just
look like they're out of their depth. I don't know
what they're doing.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
And Chris Bishop is with us right now. High Bish, Hello,
are you playing super chess?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
I think we're doing the right thing. In principle, people
should be able to vote on the budget. There's no
more important role for Parliament than voting on the budget.
But also we want this week to be about the
budget and the important moves that we're making to get
fiscool discipline back and grow the economy, and we don't
want it to sidetracked by distractions. So that's what we've
adjourned the debate. So ultimately Parliament will deal with the

(01:17):
report of the Privileged Committee and to the Party marimps
that will just do it in a couple of weeks,
not today.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
What do you make of Chris Hipkins's complained that you
didn't tell him what you were doing earlier.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, I'm not obliged to tell Chris Hipkins what we're
up to. I mean, the Parliament ultimately has voted to
adjourn the debate and that's what we're doing. So there'll
be many a chance for people to have their say
on the appropriate punishment in a couple of weeks. As
it stands, the Government is in favor of the report
of the Committee, which proposes twenty one days punishment. We
think what the Mary Party MPs did was wrong and

(01:50):
they deserve sanction for that, and we'll be voting in
favor of it, and ultimately it's over to the opposition
what they decide to do, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
So no compromise. The entire National Party is going to
vote for twenty one days.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yes, and things would be different if the Mario or
might be different if the Mariory Party showed any contrition whatsoever.
But you've got to remember they haven't turned up to
the committee. They've never apologized. They basically don't recognize the
jurisdiction of the Privileg's Committee. They don't accept what they
did was wrong, and they need to realize that the
rules apply to them in the same way they apply
to me and every other MP. You can't walk over

(02:22):
to someone in the middle of it vote in the
House and do a hakka in an intimidating way and
point a fake gun at another member of Parliament, which
is what they did. It's wrong.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Now.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Karen mcinnaughty of the Labour Party has been going around
saying that there are people in the National Party, MPs
in the National Party who are very uncomfortable about this
and don't think that the twenty one day punishment is right.
Have you spoken to everybody.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, that's completely wrong, and there are plenty of Labor
Party MPs who want him to be the leader and
don't wan Chris Hippins to be the leader too, But
I don't go around spreading rumors like that.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
You know, what do you make of the fact that
we've got ourselves in this situation in the first place,
having this unbelievably long, potentially long fullybusted debate. Are you
surprised that the Speaker has made this ruling?

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, the standing orders provide for a debate to take
place in relation to privileges committee matters. There's not a
lot Speaker can do about that, so that the debate
is the debate.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Is it not the case that the Speaker can sit
down with the committee the Business of the House Committee
and decide it's going to be a two hour debate
and just limited to that.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
He could do that, but there's no way. I mean,
I'd be in favor of that, but there's no way
the opposition would agree to that that. That is something
that requires consensus across the Parliament. So I suspect no,
it hasn't come through.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
So this was a decision taken unilaterally by the Speaker well.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
It's just he's just giving effect to the standing orders.
The standing orders provides for there to be a debate.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah, but he had options, didn't he, Bish.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Well, everyone's got options. I mean, I'd be in favor
of a two hour debate or a time limited debate,
because if you just need a chance to ventilate the
issues and kind of say on it. But you know,
I don't think that.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
I know, I know that you are bound by convention
and you cannot criticize the speaker. So I'm not asking
you to criticize the speaker. I am just saying the
speaker had options here. It didn't have to play out
like this. Are you surprised that it did well.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
I'm disappointed that we are where we are, but mostly
I'm disappointed in the way the married party has behaved.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Okay, Bish, thanks very much, really appreciate your time. That's
Chris Bishop, the Leader of the House.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
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