Neil Sands
Parliament’s Privileges Committee has demanded an apology from Ti Pati Māori MP Tākuta Ferris for misleading the House when he denied saying that fellow MPs were liars.
The committee found that Ferris’ denial, made during a debate in September last year, amounted to contempt of Parliament, saying “[MPs], and indeed the public, must be able to trust in the truthfulness of members for the House to operate effectively.
“We therefore recommend that Mr Ferris be required to apologise to the House,” it said in a report released after a private hearing on Tuesday.
In his original remarks, recorded by Hansard, Harris talked of lies being presented as truths.
“Politicians call this obfuscation,” he said. “The art of making something unclear, intentionally vague, ambiguous, to conceal or obscure the truth, to confuse others. Lies, in other words. Many in this House are masters of it.”
When questioned on a point of order that raised concerns he was alleging MPs were liars, Harris told the House: “I haven’t made that statement”.
He repeated the denial in written evidence to the committee, which the report described as “contradictory” and “confusing”, then declined to appear at a hearing to explain himself further.
“We find that Mr Ferris deliberately misled the House,” the committee report said.
“It is evident to us that Mr Ferris believes that obfuscation is synonymous with the act of lying. We agree. To call members of Parliament masters of obfuscation is an allegation that members of Parliament are liars.”
The hearing on Tuesday also considered the conduct of four MPs who performed a haka in the House in November, during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill. No decision on that matter has been released.
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