{"id":603434,"date":"2026-09-17T17:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/603434\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T17:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T17:30:11","slug":"te-pati-maori-co-leader-ejected-from-parliament-for-using-c-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/603434\/","title":{"rendered":"Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori co-leader ejected from Parliament for using c-word"},"content":{"rendered":"

Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has been ejected from Parliament after using the c-word.<\/p>\n

Politicians have been debating the Move-On orders legislation under urgency.<\/p>\n

Ngarewa-Packer admitted she used the word, which had been used three times in Parliament, and was asked to leave.<\/p>\n

Labour’s Willie Jackson also left the chamber after raising an objection then getting in a shouting match with other MPs, prompting Assistant Speaker Maureen Pugh to call for the Sergeant-at-Arms.<\/p>\n

Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori’s MP Oriini Kaipara had been making a speech and used the word “bullcrap”, which prompted Pugh to remind her to “keep the language Parliamentary”.<\/p>\n

Green MP Julie Anne Genter then began her speech but NZ First’s Casey Costello raised a point of order, saying Ngarewa-Packer had “used a word which I will not use that begins with C … the fact that it has been used once in this house does not make it common use, I find it particularly offensive and disrespectful to you Madam Speaker.”<\/p>\n

She said “it was directed at you, Madam Speaker”.<\/p>\n

Ngarewa-Packer then raised her own point, saying “three times the word c— has been used in this House, by the government … so either that word is offensive or bull-crap is.”<\/p>\n

Pugh said she personally found that offensive and asked Ngarewa-Packer to leave.<\/p>\n

“Are you now going to challenge my ruling? I’m not going to entertain a conversation on this, the member will leave the Chamber,” Pugh said.<\/p>\n

Jackson then stood to say he did not wish to challenge the ruling, prompting Pugh to say “that’s good, it’s a good time to sit down then,” but he continued, saying the word had been used in front of the Parliament.<\/p>\n

Pugh told him to “sit down, sit down now,” but Jackson continued to argue the point, until Pugh ordered him to leave as well.<\/p>\n

When he did not, and Jackson continued shouting across Parliament, Pugh calmly directed the Sergeant-at-Arms to “assist Mr Jackson”.<\/p>\n

She then sought clarification from Kaipara, who said she had not used the C-word, and Pugh apologised to her.<\/p>\n

Ngarewa-Packer’s original use of the word was not picked up by the microphones.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters afterwards, she explained she had been objecting to Kaipara being “growled” for saying “bullcrap” and she had been complaining in an aside “oh Christ\u2019s\u00a0sake, they’ve used the word c— in the House before”.<\/p>\n

“Casey then stood up and narked on me … and told the speaker, who then stood up, and I think she thought – because Casey didn’t name me – I think she thought Oriini said it.”<\/p>\n

She said she had not been using the word to refer to Pugh.<\/p>\n

Jackson, speaking to reporters alongside Ngarewa-Packer, said Pugh had seemed to think she was.<\/p>\n

“No, of course not. No,” Ngarewa-Packer said. “I was talking to Oriini, and I said to Oriini … ‘whatever, they’ve used c— in the House before and so … if you want to look at the threshold, bullcrap’s not up there.”<\/p>\n

Jackson said it was hypocrisy for Ngarewa-Packer to be ejected when ACT’s Brooke van Velden had previously said the word and not been cautioned.<\/p>\n

Ngarewa-Packer said she had used the word in Parliament twice before, “so today I think they’re just extremely trigger happy”.<\/p>\n

Jackson said government MPs had been “screaming at me from the other side ‘get out, get out’. Who do they think they are?”<\/p>\n

He said he had “a lot of time” for Pugh but “then she was yelling at me to get out … double standards, hypocrisy, the Speaker didn’t want to hear that, I wanted to make it clear to her, then the National Party was saying ‘you get out’, and I said ‘you get out, don’t tell me to get out’, then they said ‘oh we’ll call the Sergeant-at-Arms’.<\/p>\n

“[They] don’t have to call the Sergeant-at-Arms, I’m not going to cause any trouble, I just wanted to make my point, made my point, and then I left.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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