Speaker Gerry Brownlee has expressed his “strong displeasure” at ACT leader David Seymour’s attempt to drive a near 80-year-old Land Rover up the steps of Parliament.
A security guard stopped Seymour driving a 1948 Land Rover Series I up the stairs on Monday.
The vehicle, believed to be the oldest Land Rover in the country, was in Wellington as part of a fundraising campaign into heart valve research.
Attempting to drive up the steps of Parliament places more pressure on the PM to rein in the ACT Party leader. (Source: 1News)
After getting out of the car, Seymour said you “shouldn’t have to get permission do to every little thing in New Zealand” and that MPs should not have to seek permission because Parliament was their workplace.
Seymour added today that the security guard had put himself in danger.
“You have a moving vehicle, and you go that close to it, then you are putting yourself in danger.
“There were ways that he could have intervened by not putting himself so close to a moving vehicle.”
The 1948 Series One, believed to be the oldest in NZ, was at Parliament as part of a fundraising effort of Manaaki Manawa – The Centre for Heart Research. (Source: 1News)
At the beginning of Parliamentary proceedings on Tuesday, Brownlee commended the security guard for his actions and said his long experience in the role gave him the necessary judgement to deal with a “difficult situation”.
“I doubt he would have ever expected to have to tell a member of the House not to drive a vehicle onto the steps of the building, particularly given that that it was a repeat of the 2003 event, and in light of the enhanced security arrangements that Parliament has since put in place.”
In 2003, National MP Shane Ardern drove a tractor up the steps as part of a protest. He was charged with disorderly behaviour and let off with a warning.
Brownlee said he had expressed his “strong displeasure” at Seymour’s actions as well as “concern at his belief that MPs should be able to do what he did as a right”. He said Seymour had sent him a letter to apologise for any offence caused.
No standing orders could reasonably support a referral to the Privileges Committee and possible prosecution, as was the case in 2003, would be a police matter, he added.
“New Zealand’s parliament is one of the most open and accessible in the world, and I hope that we will continue to have that situation for many years to come.”
Labour leader Chris Hipkins asked whether Brownlee had told organisers they were not to drive on the stairs.
Brownlee said the organisers of the event asked some time ago whether they could bring the vehicle to Parliament and re-enact an event in 1948 where the vehicle was driven up the steps.
He said he was unable to find record of this event.
The organisers were told they could have a photograph in front of the steps but “most definitely” not that they could drive up.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon described the incident at his post-Cabinet press conference yesterday as a “political sideshow” and said he was “very, very focused on driving economic growth”.
