Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick was ordered out of Parliament on 4 August 2026 after telling the Speaker, Gerry Brownlee, that "the problem is your double standards" (RNZ).

The Speaker is like the referee of Parliament. Their job is to keep order and make sure MPs follow the rules. When an MP is ordered to leave, they have to sit out the rest of that day's session.

It happened at the end of a tense Question Time, the part of the day when opposition MPs get to question the government. The opposition was pressing the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, about two things: his comments on small businesses, and his handling of Foreign Minister Winston Peters. Peters had been in the spotlight after telling Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to "go back to where you've come from" in Parliament the week before.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins questioned Luxon over Peters's behaviour, at one point saying Helen Clark "quietened him down when she dumped him from Cabinet". Peters stood up and asked Hipkins to take the comment back, calling it a "lie". Brownlee said he would check the official record of what was said and come back to the House on it.

Swarbrick then raised a formal point — a way of asking the Speaker to check the rules. She wanted to know why she kept getting punished for using the word "lie" when Peters had just used it too. Brownlee said every situation was different and he would look into it later.

The moment that led to Swarbrick being thrown out came later, when she asked Luxon about AI data centres — large facilities that house powerful computers. She wanted to know whether a proposed "Data Grid AI centre" would push up electricity prices, and whether the government had ordered a proper cost-benefit study before approving them. Luxon said the advice he had received was that AI data centres "won't put an upward pressure on electricity prices" and more work was being done on a cost-benefit analysis.

Swarbrick pushed further, asking how many of these centres might be approved before the study was done. Luxon said there were "around about 60 data centres in New Zealand today" and three more expected. While he was speaking, Swarbrick called out across the room, asking whether the Prime Minister even knew the difference between a regular data centre and an AI data centre.

Brownlee cut in, telling Swarbrick she had already asked her question and could not keep going from her seat. He then complained about the noise, saying he could not be expected to work out what 123 people were saying at once. Swarbrick stood up again: "respectfully, the problem is your double standards." Brownlee's response was immediate: "the member will leave the house."

After she was removed, Swarbrick told reporters she stood by what she said. She called the uneven treatment "well documented" and said the Greens had written to and met with the Speaker about it several times. She said it was a particular issue "in the context of the Green Party, and when it comes to the behaviour of the Right Honourable Winston Peters". She pointed out that Peters got away with calling the other side liars, while Brownlee had consistently told her to stand up, withdraw and apologise, with Labour members held to the same standard.

This is not a one-off complaint. On 19 February 2026, Labour MP Kieran McAnulty said "Double standards, sir—double standards" and left the chamber (Hansard). During that same sitting, someone pointed out that the year before, on 4 August, the Speaker had made Swarbrick withdraw and apologise for something she said. On 19 May 2026, Assistant Speaker Greg O'Connor responded to Swarbrick's comments by saying "it seems to be double standards" (Hansard). Swarbrick has also been kicked out before for refusing to apologise for telling coalition MPs to "grow a spine" during a debate on Gaza (PBS NewsHour). That ejection also sparked debate about whether the rules were being applied fairly.

Brownlee has not yet decided what to do about Peters calling Hipkins's comments a "lie". He told the House he would check the record and come back with a ruling. The Greens will be watching closely to see whether that ruling deals with Swarbrick's complaint that the rules on rude or disrespectful language are being applied unequally.

The wider problem for the Speaker is that the "double standards" complaint is no longer coming from just one party. Labour MPs have used the same language in Parliament, and even Assistant Speakers have acknowledged it in the moment. Brownlee's usual response — that "every situation is different" — may be fair in theory, but opposition MPs are building up a list of examples and throwing them back at him.