Bridges kicked out of House
Opposition leader Simon Bridges was yesterday kicked out of the House after suggesting the Speaker was protecting the Prime Minister.
His expulsion resulted in the mass walkout of other National MPs.
During Question Time, National leader Simon Bridges was asking Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern a series of questions relating to the case of the jailed drug smuggler Karel Sroubek .
He asked if she had entirely washed her hands of anything to do with the Sroubek fiasco and if she was ducking and diving to get out of his way.
Speaker Trevor Mallard then rose and before he spoke, Bridges said off-microphone ‘‘here comes the protection’’.
Mallard then told him to leave the House and after Shadow Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee asked if Bridges had ‘‘touched a nerve’’ the Speaker asked him to leave too.
As Bridges left, Nick Smith said loudly ‘‘talk about bullying!’’ – referring to the Speakercommissioned review of bullying behaviour at Parliament.
This prompted a full walkout of all other National MPs, save for the handful who had questions to ask.
Fronting media after his expulsion, Bridges doubled down on his accusation the Speaker was protecting the Prime Minister from scrutiny.
‘‘I was trying to ask the Prime Minister serious questions about the Sroubek fiasco. She wouldn’t answer and the speaker leaped to protect her – I called him on it. I said ‘here comes the protection’,’’ Bridges admitted.
Criticising the Speaker in such a way is a fairly serious breach of the parliamentary rulebook. But Bridges said it was in the public interest to break the rules in this instance.
‘‘What I’ve seen is a Prime Minister who hasn’t answered serious questions. Here, we’re talking about a victim, we’re talking about very serious matters there should be answers to that she knows about or should know about as Prime Minister.’’
Bridges said the walkout was not planned or co-ordinated.
Bridges said he was unsure whether there would be a privileges complaint.
Mallard said he had been reflecting on the supplementary question when he rose and it was out of order on at least two counts.
‘‘As I rose, he questioned my impartiality.’’
The reason he reverted to the ejecting approach of his ‘‘immediate predecessors’’ was because National Party members had been making representations with regard to deductions of questions, he said.