Newshub has uncovered a video of Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb suggesting it would be okay to eat kiwi meat and that commercial whaling is really just like fishing.

The new chair of the Environment Select Committee didn't exactly back away from his comments when asked by Newshub about them today.

Japanese whaling ships went back to sea earlier this month, but Webb told Newshub that he didn't "really have a view on that".

That differs from New Zealand's official view, with the Government expressing disappointment in the act and calling on Japan to stop the practice of commercial whaling.

Despite his comments today, Webb has expressed a strong view on the subject in the past.

"If I was Japanese I'd call it harvesting, just like we do when we're fishing," Webb was caught saying on CTV in 2010.

Webb also took particular exception to the use of the word slaughter, calling the word "utterly emotive".

His point, it seemed, is that whales are just another meal.

"A whale is just a mammal, but the fact of the matter is we do eat animals and a whale is just a mammal," he said.

But by that same logic, a kiwi is just an animal too.

"If a kiwi had such a population that it was a pest, like the pukeko is in some parts of Westland, well you'd want to kill it. And if you're gonna kill it, why not eat it?" he said, when asked whether we should consider eating kiwis too.

But when Newshub asked whether we should eat kiwi today, the MP simply laughed and gave no answer.

