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Mana leader Hone Harawira isn’t accepting the prime minister’s claim that he’s responsible for new restrictions on MPs’ activities.
John Key pointed to the Tai Tokerau MP’s 68 sitting days away from the house last year as a reason for MPs now having to sign a register.
Those absent without leave for more than three days will be fined.
Mr Harawira says he applied to the speaker for any days away, and the leave was for parliamentary purposes.
"There have been no days listed by the speaker where I have been absent from the house without leave, not one day at all. So whatever John Key is talking about really doesn't stack up. I don't particularly worry about my own activities but I'm a bit nonplussed about the prime minister taking a dig. It just doesn't seem prime ministerial for him to worry about what other MPs are doing and then refusing to answer about what is happening with his own MPs," he says.
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