Chris Bishop tried to set up a coffee date with Speaker Trevor Mallard during his debut as National’s new housing spokesperson – with little success.
Throughout Tuesday’s question time, according to Mallard, Bishop continued to make comments while others were speaking. Mallard seemed to grow increasingly annoyed as Bishop began to comment on a ruling he had made about supplementary questions.
“He’s not in the school debating team anymore, he’s in the House of Representatives,” Mallard said.
Bishop replied: “Oh come on Mr Speaker. Goodness me.”
The National MP then continued his questions to the Associate Minister of Housing about rental prices.
Later, after another interjection from Bishop that referred to Mallard – which is against Parliament’s standing orders or rules – Mallard said: “He knows what the rules are. He’s not a stupid member. I can only assume he’s doing it deliberately.”
The Speaker said Bishop might now be at a “disadvantage” with his “new seat” in the House after leader Christopher Luxon’s shuffling of his caucus on Wednesday morning. That came as Simon Bridges announced his retirement as an MP on Tuesday.
Mallard said he could hear Bishop better than ever before because of the new seating arrangement.
“I have sat in that very seat. Order! There he goes again! There he goes again! I mean, If I was either one of my predecessors, he would have been gone a half-hour ago.”
Bishop responded that he was just “trying to be helpful”.
“Would it be useful if we had a coffee afterwards?” Bishop asked. He told Mallard it may help him understand the difference in his volume of speech when he was trying to speak publicly and when he wasn’t.
Mallard responded: “I’ll decline the member’s invitation for a date because I have meetings that go on for some time afterwards. I will say to the member, just because it’s quiet for him, doesn’t mean I can’t hear it.”
Seymour then commented: “I was just wondering if Chris Bishop would like to have a coffee.”
Credit: Source link
