PM told off, Mallard ducks out

Prime Minister John Key. Photo / Mark Mitchell

It was not, according to Speaker Lockwood Smith, "high-quality question time" in Parliament yesterday.

While Dr Smith was disappointed with the "political" content of Opposition questions, it was the quality of the Government's answers and his rulings being questioned by the Prime Minister that resulted in a rare prickly exchange with the famously relaxed John Key.

The niggle began early on as Opposition leader Phil Goff asked the Prime Minister why the Government was enacting policies, including its imminent GST rise, that increased living costs when wages were not rising for most New Zealanders.

Dr Smith found the Prime Minister's answer unsatisfactory but Mr Key defended it as a fitting response to "a stupid question", drawing a reprimand from the Speaker.

But the duelling between Mr Goff and Mr Key continued over how the new GST rate compared with those in other OECD countries.

Becoming impatient as progress dragged, Dr Smith began threatening rowdy MPs with the "early shower".

That clearly didn't dampen Mr Key's combativeness as he pointed out the shower would be cheaper under National than Labour because electricity prices had been curbed.

Soon, however, Mr Key ran afoul of Dr Smith as he claimed Mr Goff's earlier question misquoted him and he asked the Speaker "to reflect" on Parliament's standing orders.

"The questions coming out of the mouth of the leader of the Opposition are not fair because they make an assertion that is different from the quote," said a clearly peeved Mr Key.

Dr Smith again expressed his disappointment with the quality of questions and answers but the Prime Minister was unwilling to let go of his complaint and again suggested the Speaker should "go away and reflect on this matter".

Appearing to take this as a slight on his performance and authority, Dr Smith warned the Prime Minister he was not being "helpful". "The Prime Minister will not argue with me in the House for even the Prime Minister has been known to leave the House."

But it was serial offender Trevor Mallard of Labour who hit the showers early a few minutes later after referring to Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee as "a size 84 chicken".