Clashes in Parliament over MPs' behaviour continue

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Labour leader Chris Hipkins have clashed in Parliament over Luxon's management of his ministers.

Luxon fired back at Hipkins about MP Duncan Webb's video featuring protesters chanting about the prime minister killing children.

He also appeared to insult Australians, saying it pays to be simple when communicating with them after being challenged over the removal of te reo Māori greetings from a Matariki invitation for an Australian politician.

Kicking off Question Time on Wednesday, Hipkins raised Trade Minister Todd McClay's comment to Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March that "you're not in Mexico now", and his apology letter which said that was "friendly banter", and asked if Luxon considered that was the standard of behaviour he expected.

Luxon said it had been good to see McClay apologise, but Hipkins continued to push - asking whether calling it banter was the type of workplace culture the prime minister was trying to create.

Luxon said that was "a bit rich" considering Hipkins' former minister and senior MP Duncan Webb had uploaded a video "saying that I'm killing children, I don't think that's appropriate".

Hipkins said Luxon was not responsible for Webb, pointing out he had not really addressed the question.

Luxon tried again, saying he was asking all political leaders to watch their rhetoric.

But Hipkins continued, asking whether Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters "providing a running commentary on the gender of international athletes" met Luxon's standards of behaviour.

Peters then demanded Hipkins apologise, saying his social media post "says nothing of the sort", but Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee made a ruling that supplementary questions were part of a free-flowing discussion and did not need checking. Luxon said he had nothing more to add.

Hipkins said Luxon had still not addressed his question. Luxon said Peters had denied what Hipkins was alleging, and was "doing an exceptionally good job ... lifting the intensity and the urgency of our relationships across the Indo Pacific like no one's done before".

Hipkins continued, asking about Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith's removal of te reo Māori greetings from Matariki celebration invites for an Australian minister.

"Well, I would just say to that member, we value te reo on this government," Luxon said. "What I'd say to you, in my dealings with Australians, it always pays to be incredibly simple and clear and use English," Luxon said.

"Good to see him leading by example," Hipkins remarked, before embarking on his next question, about Children's Minister Karen Chhour choosing to continue wearing an ACT lapel pin, which according to the ruling set down by Brownlee had prevented her from answering questions.

Luxon said Chhour was "doing a fantastic job" before saying Hipkins' line of questioning was petty.

"This is a country where our economy is in real trouble. This is a country where we cannot deliver health and education services as well as we need to, and we have rising levels of crime, and this is the line of questioning from the leader of the Opposition."

Brownlee stepped in as the government MPs clapped and cheered, warning another outburst would see someone removed.

Hipkins defended his questioning, saying Chhour's action had been the first time in his 16 years in Parliament a minister had refused to answer a Parliamentary question.

"That is the job of ministers, and I think the Prime Minister should be expected to address that question rather than do the very thing that he's been telling everyone else all week not to do and attack the questioner," Hipkins said.

ACT leader David Seymour argued Chhour had tried to answer the question but was not allowed to, but Hipkins said Chhour could simply have removed her badge to enable her to answer.

"She chose to refuse to answer the question. That is a matter of ministerial conduct, and it is absolutely appropriate that the Prime Minister be questioned on that and asked to explain it," Hipkins said.

Brownlee backed Hipkins on that, but said it was his own responsibility as Speaker, not Luxon's as prime minister. Hipkins said it was a matter of ministerial conduct for which Luxon was answerable, but Brownlee said the matter had been settled.

"And I expect that the current compliance with the rules of the house will continue without losing a question," Brownlee said.

However, Hipkins pushed back.

"Ministers come under significant pressure, and the minister was under significant pressure last week, and we respected the ruling that you made as the Speaker. That does not ever excuse ministers of the Crown from being held to the same standard as every other minister of the Crown ... why a minister in [Luxon's] government prioritised promoting her political party over discharging her duties as a minister."

Brownlee allowed Hipkins to ask the question again, and Luxon said Brownlee had "addressed that question, I think, very well. There was challenges last week. He has reset the tone of this House, and we deal with that going forward".

Seymour again interjected with a patsy question, asking Luxon what the people of New Zealand needed from the government.

"What they want is a government that's going to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and deliver better health and education. Those are the big issues that outside of this place," Luxon said.

But Hipkins only used this to keep pressing Luxon.

"If that is indeed the priorities of this government, why are his ministers refusing to answer questions in the House, prioritising wearing party badges instead; making racial taunts to members on the opposite side of the House; refusing to use te reo Māori in their correspondence promoting things like Matariki; providing a commentary on the gender of international athletes; and, of course, attacking the courts, which is something we haven't got to yet."

Luxon brushed this off.

"What I observe, is I see a hard-working Cabinet and a set of ministers that are actually doing the business for New Zealand," he said, pointing to efforts to curb inflation, lower crime, and support education.

"I look at our Education Minister [Erica Stanford] who did more in six hours and six days than that member [Hipkins] did as education minister for six years. A look at what our health minister is doing to make sure that we improve our health outcomes for Māori, non-Māori and all New Zealanders. That's what I see."

During the entire exchange, Brownlee had repeatedly interrupted and demanded that questions be heard in silence, in keeping with his promise to take a more vigilant approach to policing behaviour in the House.

Ahead of Question Time, he had also refused Labour MP Willie Jackson's request for Parliament to urgently debate the removal of te reo Māori greetings from Matariki invites.

Brownlee suggested it was not important enough to delay Parliament's work.

"This is a particular case of recent occurrence for which there is ministerial responsibility, the big hurdle however for applications for urgent debate is whether the issue raised warrants setting aside the business of the House," Brownlee said.