Attacks on MPs over the years

Punch-ups, late night fracases, friction at Waitangi — Members of Parliament have not been strangers to attacks over the years.

MPs have long been the target of attacks. In 1980, former National MP Dail Jones suffered a punctured lung in an attack in his electorate office by pensioner Ambrose Tindall, who was obsessed about a $15 traffic ticket.

In 2002, former NZ First MP Brian Donnelly was the victim of a late-night attack in downtown Wellington that left him bloodied and bruised.

Several incidents have taken place at Waitangi, including two men who were sentenced to 100 hours’ community work after jostling then-Prime Minister Sir John Key as he arrived at Te Tii Marae in 2009, an attack that also knocked former Ma¯ ori Party coleader Pita Sharples to the ground.

In 2004, after his infamous Orewa speech, mud was thrown at former National leader Don Brash, and in 2016 then-National MP Steven Joyce was hit in the face by a thrown dildo.

Former Act leader John Banks was also doused in mud on his way to a court appearance in 2014.

National MP Nick Smith was rubbed with rat poison last year by Nelson woman Rose Renton, who was found guilty of offensive behaviour.