Flurry of mishaps puts spotlight on Parliament's culture

This article was first published on Thursday, 1 August. It has been updated to include additional events in Parliament.

The culture at Parliament is in the spotlight again with racially charged accusations, another MP to be censured, and criticism over the Speaker's response in recent days.

Speaker Gerry Brownlee has sounded a warning that he thinks there should be a "slight cultural reset" and siding with the opposition over a dispute about answering questions.

It comes after ACT accused him of failing to address racial harassment.

Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi had made comments in te reo Māori in Parliament in May, saying Children's Minister Karen Chhour had been "made a puppet" by her party.

Chhour, who is leading the boot camps and repeal of section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act, broke down in tears on Wednesday - saying she felt bullied, and Parliament did not feel safe.

"Whilst I can't control what the public is saying about my personal traits about being Māori enough or not being the right kind of traumatised person hearing it from other MPs - that shouldn't be allowed," she told Stuff.

ACT MPs also refused to remove their party-branded lapel pins in protest of the Speaker's handing of the matter.

Labour and the Greens deny having made such attacks, both saying racial attacks do not have a place at Parliament - but neither would they shirk from criticism of Chhour and her government's policies.

"I think it is clear that Karen Chhour's not coping as a minister but I think that's very different to issues around her ethnicity or her past experience of abuse in state care. I think they should be kept well out of it - but her actions as a minister show that she is not coping with the job," Labour leader Chris Hipkins said.

"If you look at the going backwards on 7AA, the reintroduction of boot camps, these are things where the government should expect very robust scrutiny and Karen Chhour is the minister who will be subject to that scrutiny ... but her ethnicity, her experience of abuse in state care, these are not things that in my view should be brought into that."

He acknowledged his former MP Kelvin Davis had previously made some comments about Chhour, but "we had a very robust conversation about that and he subsequently then withdrew and apologised for the comment".

He said ACT's approach to the lapel pins was out of line, however.

"David Seymour needs to grow up really, I mean, is he seriously saying that he's not going to participate in Parliament because he can't wear his ACT Party badge ... it's like a naughty schoolboy, railing against the teacher who's told them they need to take their hat off when they come in.

"When the speaker makes a ruling, they're making that ruling on behalf of the Parliament, and for the government - for the potential deputy prime minister - to be undermining and attacking the Speaker in that way is totally wrong."

He said the culture came from the top, and the Prime Minister and the Speaker should set a culture "where we attack issues, not people".

Green Party musterer Ricardo Menéndez March said every member had a right to feel safe at Parliament, but he did not understand the background to the comments Chhour had made.

"She may have expressed that she's struggling with it, I'm not going to speak for Karen, ultimately ministers both have a responsibility to front up and we all as a Parliament do have a duty to make sure that people feel like they can come into the workplace," he said.

"At the same time it's really clear that we should not be conflating some of those harmful policies she's putting in place with the work we need to do in Parliament so that everyone feels safe.

"I won't be speaking for Māori who may be engaging in conversations in relationship to issues that affect Māori."

He said Parliament continued to be a toxic workplace as had been identified in multiple reports.

Menéndez March was also the subject of a racially charged attack this week, with Trade Minister Todd McClay saying "you're not in Mexico now, we don't do things like that here".

McClay did not deny making the comment, and quickly offered an apology, but Menéndez March said it was "a really overt and disgusting form of racism and xenophobia that should never come from any member of Parliament, certainly not a Trade Minister, and Todd McClay has failed to front up to explain where those words came from".

He said National and the prime minister still had questions to answer on that.

Te Paati Māori denied having been asked to apologise to Chhour.

Brownlee sides with opposition

During Question Time on Thursday, Menéndez March asked Brownlee to clarify whether a ruling over having questions answered in silence, given "members of the government definitely were cheering on" Chhour's response to one question.

Brownlee said that was fair and he thought the government MPs should be abiding by his ruling, but "it's not a permanent thing, it's 'for now' because I think there does need to be a slight cultural reset in the place and from time to time this is what I will be requesting of the House".

Leader of the House Chris Bishop then said: "the government will cease to provide that sort of support to the minister answering the question when the opposition cease sotto voce offensive remarks about her".

Brownlee wanted to move on, but Labour's Shadow Leader of the House Kieran McAnulty said it was hard to do so "when points of order are used in a way to make accusations which I believe - given there are three parties in the opposition - are unfounded and unwarranted".

Brownlee said he agreed "100 percent" and appreciated opposition parties had complied with his requests ... "and I think the honourable Chris Bishop should reflect on the point he was trying to make given I had just made comments to the House about the need to reset the culture in here".

"We are going to get a little tougher on each other I think in the future as we try to tidy the place up a bit."

Labour MP Ingrid Leary was also asked to apologise to New Zealand First MP Tanya Unkovich for an exchange during a meeting of the Health Select Committee on 19 June.

Leary had told Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey that OutLine - a rainbow mental health organisation - had concerns about Unkovich emailing non-government organsations about Gumboot Friday.

She said Unkovich - who has a Member's bill in the tin for "Fair Access to Bathrooms" - was a "known anti-trans activist".

NZ First later complained to Brownlee about the remark, and Leary stood and apologised on Thursday for the comments.

Privileges Committee

A Privileges Committee report on Thursday also recommended Green MP Julie Anne Genter be censured after she shouted at Doocey in the debating chamber in May.

Hers is the first Privileges Committee ruling of the 54th Parliament, but there were multiple in the previous term. Genter apologised in Parliament again, but would not comment on whether her case pointed to broader toxicity at Parliament.

"I can only comment on my behaviour and the actions I'm taking now to take accountability for that," she told reporters.

Hipkins said the increased number of Privileges Committee complaints in recent times was "not necessarily" an indication of increasing toxicity at Parliament.

"I think it's also an indication that the threshold is lowered and I think that's a good thing. Things that previously happened in Parliament, that people just turned a blind eye to, are no longer being ignored."

Doocey walked off when asked about mental health in Parliament.

Health Minister Shane Reti said he felt Parliament's culture had improved since he was first elected nearly a decade ago.

"I understand there can still be moments when there's tensions and when things flare up ... if you ask people I think they take back what they said or did, would be my gut feeling - maybe I'm being generous, I don't know - but my observation over nearly 10 years now is that Parliament has improved."

He said his understanding was ACT was wrapping support around Chhour, as was the government.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said he would not get into a debate about ACT's clash with Brownlee.

He said they supported the Speaker, but "certainly I would support Karen Chhour to be able to go about her bsuiness without being exposed to those kinds of personal attacks as she has been in Parliament".

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she hoped it was a "small matter that can be resolved between the two of them ... that it can be resolved between the Speaker and David Seymour".

"I think that all of us in our politics need to be careful to keep the focus on policy and the issue, not the person."

She said Chhour was clearly requesting Te Pāti Māori rein in their attacks on her, "and I'm sure that they will give that consideration".

NZ First MP Casey Costello said Chhour had been under a huge amount of pressure "to try and do some good work and I think that's been unfair on her, but I think I've been relatively fortunate in the relationships I've got".

Said she had not encountered a culture problem at Parliament.

"It's a working place, I think like every working place you build relationships."