Green Party says has commenced a “disciplinary process” into the behaviour of MP Julie Anne Genter after a confrontation in Parliament last night, which has now triggered a privilege complaint.
“This cannot happen again,” Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson told media at a press conference this afternoon.
“It completely fell below our standards of behaviour,” Davidson said.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee has just confirmed he has received a privilege complaint relating to last night’s incident with Genter.
Genter crossed the floor last night and waved a book in the face of National minister Matt Doocey. She has subsequently apologised for her actions.
Her behaviour has been slated as unacceptable by political leaders including NZ First’s Winston Peters and Labour’s Chris Hipkins.
Davidson wouldn’t answer whether Genter had displayed similar behaviour in the past or had breached the party’s expectations of behaviour. She was limiting herself to commenting on the actions that took place last night.
”[Her actions] were not good and they were wrong.”
The Greens had an internal MP code of conduct and Genter had breached that.
Davidson said she had contacted Doocey, who faced Genter’s actions last night, as well as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, but hadn’t heard back.
Davidson said it was clear the party didn’t need to conduct an investigation into any role the party could have played in Genter’s actions.
Asked what they would say to the public about the state of the Greens, Davidson understood that might be a public reaction and said the party was working its way through the relevant processes.
Davidson said she had thought it best Genter not be here today.
Co-leader Chloe Swarbrick said they had made it clear to Genter that her actions were not acceptable.
“It crossed a threshold last night,” Swarbrick said.
Swarbrick did acknowledge Genter had been talked to about a prior incident of poor behaviour during an interview.
Doocey refused to comment to journalists about the matter as he headed into Question Time this afternoon.
Genter is steering clear of Parliament today, but the National Party is expected to lodge a complaint about the incident in the Debating Chamber in which Genter had walked across the debating chamber to Doocey, waved a booklet and spoke angrily to him while gesturing and close to his face. It happened during a debate on transport.
After Speaker Gerry Brownlee was called back to deal with it, Genter apologised and said it was not her intention to intimidate anybody. However, she could still face a privileges complaint for the behaviour.
That would require another MP to lodge a complaint and the Speaker would decide whether to send it to the Privileges Committee.
This morning on Newstalk ZB, deputy Prime Minister Peters said Genter “lost the plot” and should face consequences, while Hipkins also said such behaviour was not acceptable.
National Party MPs were understood to be considering lodging a privileges complaint, which could see Genter face the Privileges Committee, a committee of MPs from all parties that has the power to censure MPs and find them in contempt of Parliament.
Genter could also face disciplinary action from the Green Party.
A Green Party spokesman said earlier Genter’s actions were “clearly unacceptable and do not meet the standards of what we expect of Green Party MPs.”
“The co-leaders have talked to Julie Anne and made clear their expectations. Julie Anne has apologised to the Speaker and to the House.”
If her actions weren’t intimidating, “I don’t know what is,” Peters said to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB.
Peters was not in the House last night but said he had spoken to people who were.
He described Genter’s actions as waving a “big book” in someone’s face as if she were going to “bang [him] on the nose with it.
”I think she just lost the plot.”
Asked what should happen to Genter, Peters said her saying “I made you feel unsafe and I’m sorry” just ‘doesn’t cut it’.
”There has to be consequences for this… it’s disappointing in the extreme.”
Act Party leader David Seymour tweeted about it, saying “there’s a culture in the Greens where they think they know it all, and the rules don’t apply to them. Now there’s a Green Party scandal almost every month with one of their MPs acting out on that culture.”
At a media standup in South Auckland this morning Labour leader Hipkins said while he was also not in the House at the time he had seen the “unflattering photos” of Genter.
He wasn’t prepared to comment on whether it was intimidating behaviour but didn’t think it was acceptable for politicians to get up and walk across the House.
The incident happened about 8pm, while Labour’s Nelson MP Rachel Boyack was speaking and followed some heckling between Doocey and Genter over transport funding for roading.
It was visible in the background of the footage on Parliament TV.
“Miss Genter. Miss Genter, please resume your seat,” demanded the chair at the time, Barbara Kuriger.
“It’s not appropriate to get out of one’s seat to go and have an argument with somebody on the other side.”
Speaker Gerry Brownlee was recalled to the debating chamber to deal with the issue after National’s whip Scott Simpson asked Kuriger to do so.
After some other MPs spoke, Genter stood and said she would like to apologise, saying she had been trying to show Doocey some information in a booklet.
“It was the last thing I wanted to do was to intimidate anyone in this House. What has absolutely motivated me was a desire to share information that I believed would be of benefit to everyone in this House. And I’m very sorry if in my passion to do so, I was intimidating. That was not my intention.”
Brownlee said he had not seen the incident himself, but it would be open for MPs to lodge a privileges complaint if they felt it was warranted and that Genter’s apology was not sufficient.
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