Cabinet minister Todd McClay has apologised to the House, after making a comment causing personal offence to a Mexico-born MP.
Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March, who is from Mexico, raised the comments as a matter of personal offence on Tuesday afternoon.
"After the point of order I did in relationship to Tamatha Paul's question, Todd McClay, the minister of trade, threw a barb back saying, quote, as best as I can understand, 'you're not in Mexico now, we don't do things like that here'."
Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March. Photo: Phil Smith
Menéndez March said he had sought advice from the clerk and consulted with Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Greens MP Teanau Tuiono to confirm what McClay had said.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee asked McClay if that comment was an interjection offered across the House, adding if it was he should withdraw and apologise.
McClay did not deny making the comment, and responded swiftly: "I withdraw and apologise".
MPs in the House could be heard breaking out into more commentary, with some saying "oh my gosh" and "far out", before resuming the session.
Last week, Hauraki-Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was at the centre of a squabble over her laptop stickers during a session in Parliament.
