Chlöe Swarbrick booted from House as Palestine debate gets heated
Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Chlöe Swarbrick has been ejected from the House and barred for the rest of the week.
The move came after she suggested that Government MPs did not have “a spine” on the question of Palestinian statehood.
The Government says it is considering whether to recognise Palestine.
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has been ejected from the House of Representatives and barred for the rest of the week after a fiery speech about the war in Gaza.
The incident came during an urgent debate on Tuesday afternoon on the Government’s announcement that it was considering recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Swarbrick had been giving a speech where she urged the Government to take up a Green Party Bill which would sanction Israel, saying they needed just 6 of 68 “Government MPs with a spine” for the country to “stand on the right side of history”.
Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee said the comment was out of order and called on Swarbrick to withdraw and apologise, or leave the House for the rest of the week.
Swarbrick refused to apologise and said she would leave.
Brownlee said Swarbrick could return to the House on Wednesday if she apologised.
“Well it is that the member can only be removed for a sitting day, the requirement for an apology does not lapse,” he said.
Brownlee was responding to Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March, who said it was unusual to suspend an MP for an entire week. Brownlee said Swarbrick’s comment justified the response.
“I am not going to sit in this chair and tolerate a member standing on their feet … and saying other members of this House are spineless,” he said.
Speaking to reporters outside the House, Swarbrick said she has made comments similar to those which got her ejected from the debating chamber “many times” before, and that she did not think they were particularly controversial.
She emphasised the topic at hand - the war in Gaza - was important, and added New Zealanders expected their leaders to “do the right thing”.
“It’s pretty bloody obvious what the right thing is here. It looks like upholding human rights. It looks like upholding a Genocide Convention, which requires all of us through everything we can to prevent genocide from happening,” she said.
“This Government continues to pour shame on our legacy of standing for human rights and justice.”
Earlier in the debate, ACT leader David Seymour raised a point of order over Swarbrick’s chair being adorned in a Palestinian keffiyeh.
“I draw your attention to the member who just resumed her seat which is adorned with a Palestinian scarf,” he said to Brownlee.
“I invite you to consider what this House might look like if everyone who had an interest in a global conflict adorning their seat with one side or another and whether a member should be able to do such a thing particularly when you yourself have forbidden members from wearing a tiny pins on their lapels.”
Brownlee replied that Seymour had raised a good point, before Swarbrick put the scarf on.
“I have been willing to accept it if people were wearing something that did not particular… oh here we go, stay warm, let’s move on now.”
The Greens have been wearing keffiyehs in the House since 2023.
The urgent debate on the question of Palestinian statehood was called for after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced on Monday that an official Government position on Palestinian statehood would be made in September.
The announcement has been criticised by both the Green Party and Labour for the length of time it is taking to make a decision.
Labour’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Peeni Henare, said the National-led coalition is “walking into the sunset of denial” through its inaction.
“We ask for the recognition of statehood for Palestine, we ask for more aid for those suffering in this humanitarian crisis,” Henare said.
In turn, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has criticised Labour, saying the issue is “not straightforward or clear cut”.
Peters told Parliament some international partners supported recognition while others did not, and he would spend the next month gathering information from countries including Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt before Cabinet makes a decision.
He said some partners were demanding Hamas lay down its arms and leave Gaza.
“We are weighing up our decision carefully rather than rushing to a decision.”
Peters asked why Labour didn’t recognise Palestine when it had “15 years” in power, and a second chance between 2017 and 2023, but “didn’t do it then”.