Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick says MPs from across the aisle have told her they have seen instances of intimidation in their own parties following an outburst in Parliament from a Green MP.
Julie Anne Genter yelled in the face of Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey during a debate in the House last Wednesday, sparking condemnation. Further allegations of inappropriate behaviour against Genter emerged in the aftermath, including a Wellington florist describing her as a "bully".
National's Chief Whip Scott Simpson described her behaviour as "extraordinary" and something he had never seen during his time in Parliament.
However, in an interview on AM on Monday alongside ACT leader David Seymour, Swarbrick said other MPs have since come forward saying they have witnessed similar outbursts within their own parties.
"In the following few days, I've heard from members of Parliament across the aisle who have reached out with care and concern - a number of which reflecting on the fact that they've seen similar instances in recent history out of their own parties too," Swarbrick said.
"So, I think this also speaks to while we completely take responsibility for what's occurred here, and obviously making sure Julie Anne gets the requisite professional and personal support, also we've got a lot of work to do in ensuring we've got the best sort of working environment in Parliament to get the best out of people."
Asked if he thought there was a wider issue in Parliament, Seymour said it was "totally unacceptable" to blame bad behaviour on the environment and Swarbrick's response was "an absolute cop-out".
Swarbrick interrupted, saying she was not making excuses for Genter's behaviour.
"I just want to be clear, I was not excusing the behaviour whatsoever. We make no excuses, and we completely apologise for it," she said.
Seymour said he didn't want the kind of violence that happens in other Parliaments around the world to happen in New Zealand.
"We've never seen anything like that," he said. "I'm sorry, nothing like this has happened in living memory."
AM co-host Melissa Chan-Green asked Swarbrick if she had been in touch with Genter on the latest claims.
"Myself and Marama have both been in touch with Julie Anne throughout the weekend and have been addressing precisely those," she said.
"Look, if I can just take this a step back and say Julie Anne is an incredibly hard-working, intelligent and obviously very passionate member of parliament. But particularly what occurred on Wednesday night, in our House of Parliament, crossed the line."
"She apologised immediately for that, and we back that up and we are more than willing to be following any processes internally, including the potential privileges process as is necessary to restore order here."
Seymour later said it wasn't a matter of being "willing" to go along with the Privileges Committee, because it's compulsory.
"And then Chlöe said 'Oh but we're more than willing to go along with the Privileges Committee'. I mean I'm sorry you don't have a choice about that, you are forced to do it," he said.
Chan-Green asked Swarbrick what the internal disciplinary process would look like.
"As of post-Wednesday there is disciplinary action that's underway which looks like ensuring that Julie Anne gets the requisite professional and personal support."
"I can't really get into details of that because as you'd expect it's quite confidential and quite personal to ensuring that Julie Anne is adequately supported to do the best that she can possibly do.
"But when it comes to the privileges process that sits alongside that, that obviously, unfortunately, is privileged, so that sits in the hands of Gerry Brownlee as speaker."
