NZ Prime Minister John Key is a racist blowhard who has smeared the opposition parties of "backing the rapists" for their support of NZ citizens with minor criminal convictions (not sexual assault, incidentally) being deported from Australia, where they have been imprisoned.
Many MPs left the chamber in protest of his remarks, but several female MPs, led by Green party co-leader Metiria Turei, stood to ask the PM to apologise and to speak about their own experiences with rape, saying "this kind of abuse of people and way of approaching rape is simply unacceptable, and the prime minister has to be held to account."
Female MPs who spoke about their own rapes were ejected from Parliament by the Speaker of the House, David Carter, who said they were "flouting the rules" of Parliament.
When other female MPs, including Labour’s Nanaia Mahuta, Clare Curran and Megan Woods, along with Green MP Marama Davidson repeated the call for Key to apologise with reference to their own assaults, Carter ordered them to stop, saying they were “flouting the rules” by claiming to make points of order.
Carter said he had not heard Key’s comments clearly at the time and it was too late to demand an apology.
Despite the warning, MPs continued to stand to urge the Speaker to take action.
Green MP Marama Davidson was then thrown out of the House, followed by Poto Williams. At least eight others then chose to leave the debating chamber.
They were joined by four male MPs, including Greens co-leader James Shaw, and are demanding Key apologise for his comments.
New Zealand female MPs thrown out of parliament after disclosing sexual assaults
[Eleanor Ainge Roy/The Guardian]
