Henare, who has clashed with Mallard in the past, including being punched by him, was on The Project on Tuesday to give his opinion into the workplace - and he did not hold back.

"I think that we have a Speaker that is the epitome of the word irony," he said.

"This guy was the biggest schoolyard bully in the place. If there was a programme called 'The Biggest Bully', he would have won it ten years in a row.

"When it was announced by him that he was going to do a report on bullying, I literally nearly wet myself."

Henare said he didn't like using the word 'culture' to describe the situation, but said in his opinion there was clearly a power imbalance between MPs and staff members.

"There is a handful of, excuse me, cockwombles that walk around the place and own the place, and it is only a handful.

"There are MPs and Ministers that go through staff members like a hot knife through butter, and they don't deserve to be there."

Despite accusations of sexual harassment against some politicians, he said MPs can't simply be fired or forced to step down as they are elected, while staff members don't have such privilege.

"The problem is yes, it happens, it is how you deal with it and it is because the poor old staff member is always going to lose because the MP ain't going anywhere."

On The AM Show on Wednesday, Mallard admitted his past behaviour hadn't always been perfect, but he was working on it.

"I don't think there will be a person in the building who has been perfect. I am a man of my generation and have acted badly in the past. I have been trying to improve and I think I have improved significantly," he said.



"I think as your own kids get older and you think about the sort of world that you want, you think about what is appropriate more and you adjust your behaviour accordingly.

"I think most of us can do that and those that can't, there is pretty serious stuff happens."