A NUMBER OF female MPs were made to leave the New Zealand parliament yesterday evening after making declarations that they had been victims of sexual assault.
The speaker of the house David Carter ruled that the declarations by the women were out of order, reports the NZ Herald.
The incident arose after New Zealand Prime Minister John Key accused the opposition Labour party of ‘backing rapists’.
This was in relation to the detainment of New Zealand citizens in Australia’s Christmas Island detention centre.
Following this, a number of opposition MPs hit back and called on Key to withdraw his comments.
During this exchange, speaker of the house David Carter was asked if he deemed Keys’ remarks unparliamentary. He responded that he did, but that as it had not been raised at the time and a four minutes window had elapsed, he could not make the PM apologise.
A number of female MPs including the Green Party MPs Metiria Turei, Jan Logie, Catherine Delahunty and Labour’s Poto Williams all revealed that they had been victims of sexual assault.
The speaker initially warned the women that they would be removed if they continued raising the issue as a point of order.
Green MP Marama Davidson and Labour’s Poto Williams were thrown out of the house, and followed in solidarity by eight others.
Tweeting yesterday evening, Williams said: “It took tremendous courage to disclose our deepest hurts in the house today, The PM must apologise”.
It has since been found that detainees in the Christmas Island detention centre include individuals who have committed manslaughter, armed robbery, grievous bodily harm and assault – but not rape or murder.
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