Prime Minister John Key has been ejected from the House for disobeying the Speaker, and after an exchange with Greens co-leader James Shaw over the Panama Papers.
The incident happened this afternoon, when the prime minister was answering a question from Mr Shaw on why he refused to apologise to charities Greenpeace, the Red Cross, and Amnesty for linking them to the Panama Papers.
While calling for order, the Speaker, David Carter, told Mr Key to "resume his seat".
When Mr Key didn't he was ordered to leave the chamber.
"I gave him fair warning, when I stand to my feet and call to order, he is to be treated no different to any other member of this House."
The Speaker ordered Mr Key to leave after he continued to shout, despite Mr Carter telling him to stop.
.@jamesshaw is so provocatively reasonable the PM loses it and gets kicked out. #canthandletheJandalJohn #justsaysorry #nzpol
— Metiria Turei (@metiria) May 11, 2016
Yesterday Mr Key used Parliamentary privilege to claim that Amnesty, Greenpeace and the Red Cross had been implicated in the Panama Papers leak, and that Green MP Mojo Mathers had a foreign trust.
The charities named had been the victim of an earlier scam where fraudsters used their names as a front to hide their money in foreign trusts and were not named in the papers.
PM ejected from the House for disobeying Speaker, also means he's not hear to answer next question #panamapapersnz
— Jane Patterson (@janepatterson) May 11, 2016
Gerry Brownlee tells Parliament 'no minister' wants to answer on Key's behalf after he was booted out, seeking to defer NZ First question
— Jane Patterson (@janepatterson) May 11, 2016
Prime minister 'lost control' - Labour
Labour leader Andrew Little said Mr Key crossed the line by naming the charities and should have been ready to apologise.
"It's pretty shameful actually, when the prime minister gets thrown out - the one person who we do need to know keeps his cool in Parliament is the prime minister.
"I think he lost control, because he doesn't like being under pressure to do what a person with character would do, which is apologise for a glaring mistake."
Bill English's body language is much louder than his answers defending the PM's approach to questions of reputation on tax matters #nzqt
— David Clark (@DavidClarkNZ) May 11, 2016
David Carter on Prime Minister's eviction from the House "he's only got himself to blame" #nzqt
— Rob Carr (@RobCarrNZ) May 11, 2016
The last time a prime minister was asked to leave the house was Helen Clark in 2005.
