Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
Parliament's Speaker has referred Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris to the Privileges Committee.
The referral relates to comments Ferris made during last week's general debate.
"A knowledge gap is a dangerous thing," the MP for Te Tai Tonga told the House last Wednesday.
"It allows lies to be presented as truths. Politicians call this obfuscation-the art of making something unclear, intentionally vague, ambiguous, to conceal or obscure the truth, to confuse others.
"Lies, in other words. Many in this House are masters of it, and it is a disservice to those who voted you into your positions."
Parliament's rules forbid MPs from calling each other liars.
This afternoon, Gerry Brownlee said he had received a letter from New Zealand First MP Jamie Arbuckle that said the comments raised a matter of privilege.
"Following a point of order alleging that he had called members liars, Mr Ferris replied to me, "I haven't made that statement"," the speaker said.
"There is an apparent inconsitency between Mr Ferris' speech and his response to the point of order about it.
"The offence of calling another member a liar has long been regarded as an offence against the House, which operates on the basis that members behave truthfully and honourably.
"That would normally be dealt with as a matter of order. However, in denying that he made the statement it is possible that Mr Ferris has himself deliberately misled the House."
Brownlee referred Ferris to the Privileges Committee.
