Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Act leader David Seymour are putting aside their bruising week in which Ardern was caught calling Seymour an “arrogant prick” in Parliament.
The pair will sign a copy of the Hansard page that includes the remarks and auction it for a prostate cancer charity.
“It’s a very Kiwi resolution to what might be seen as a nasty incident,” Seymour said.
“In the spirit of Christmas, we are going to raise money for the prostate cancer foundation - raising money for pricks everywhere,” he said.
This morning, Seymour picked up a Briscoes frame for the Hansard page, which will be signed later today.
The remarks were made in the House on Tuesday, as Ardern took her seat in the chamber following answering questions from Seymour. They would have gone unnoticed had they not been picked up, ever so faintly, on the chamber’s microphones and preserved on Parliament TV.
The remarks were preserved in Hansard thanks to a clever trick of Seymour’s. After the Herald contacted Seymour about the comment, he raised a point of order in the House, asking that Ardern formally apologise for the unparliamentary remark.
Because Seymour raised that point of order, the original remark had to be included in Hansard thanks to an obscure parliamentary rule that requires interjections and asides to be included in the record if they are addressed in the House.
Ardern swiftly texted Seymour to apologise and later apologised for the remark in the House - although she jokingly noted that she also stood by the remark when she was later asked if she stood by all her statements.
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