David Seymour: ACT Party leader criticises Te Pāti Māori for skipping their hearing

ACT Party leader David Seymour says Te Pāti Māori should be penalised for shunning their Privileges Committee hearing.

Co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi instead called a press conference and confirmed they intended to hold their own hearing at Parliament on May 7.

Seymour says he's not trying to influence the Committee - but he's suggested they recommend cutting the MPs’ pay.

"What you just heard is a group of people who will continue to undermine the institution of Parliament, and therefore those New Zealanders - the overwhelming majority of New Zealanders from every background who are grateful to live in one of the most successful Parliamentary democracies in human history - they're thumbing their noses at all of us."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bread.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
So Parliament's Privileges Committee has had a hearing today. This
is on the Treaty Principal's Bill, and the hucker and
Party Marley didn't turn up. And then they held a
press conference separate to this. Separate to this, they held
a press conference announcing that they're going to hold their
own hearing.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
So we will hold an alternative, independent hearing here at
Parliament on Wednesday, the sentence of May. And this was
the original date that we had been requesting, and we
will make sure that you're all aware of the details.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
David Seamen was the AT Party leader. He's the one
the hacker was directed at. He is with me now, Hi, David, Hey, Ryan,
So what do you think the punishment punishment should be
because we don't know what the committee is going to
say yet, but what should the punishment be if you
don't turn up?

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, it's up to the Privileges Committee and I'm not
trying to influence them, but I hope they listened to zb.
The Privileges Committee should make an interim report to the
House of Representatives, that's the full Parliament, and say we
are finding these people uncooperative with our procedures and we

(01:05):
ask that the House resolve that they be suspended without
pay until such a time as the front to the
Committee and comply with its request. A very simple thing
to do, because what you just heard is a group
of people who will continue to undermine the institution of

(01:25):
Parliament and therefore all of those New Zealanders. She's the
overwhelming majority of New Zealanders from every background, who actually
are pretty grateful to live in one of the most
successful parliamentary democracies in human history. They're something there knows
that all of us, and they should be told in

(01:45):
no uncertain terms, you're certainly not going to keep taking
your seat in the House and get paid well, you
can't respect the House's procedures, just as anyone else in
any workplace would face consequences for behaving this way.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
I had to argue with that. David Seymour at Hardy
Leader appreciate your time this afternoon. For more from Hither
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