New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has criticised Te Ururoa Flavell for using te reo Māori in Parliament during question time.

Photo: VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox

The Māori Development Minister was responding to a question from Labour MP Kelvin Davis about Māori housing when Mr Peters told him to stop hiding behind the Māori language.

"How are the people of this country out there, this close to the election, going to know what the answer was... on a critical issue," Mr Peters said.

Mr Peters said Mr Flavell should speak English, and said many Māori people in his Northland electorate could not speak te reo and deserved clearer answers about Māori housing.

The Speaker of the House, David Carter, demanded Mr Peters apologise.

"It is an official language. It can be used, and will be used, by members who choose to do so," Mr Carter said.

Te reo Māori has been an official language since 1985 and Parliamentary speeches in te reo are interpreted for those who are not fluent.

In 1997 it was ruled that MPs speaking in Māori do so as a right and an interpreter is provided.

In a statement Mr Flavell said it was "more anti-Māori rhetoric" from Mr Peters.

"To accuse me of hiding behind my native tongue harks back to an age when Māori were actively discouraged from speaking te reo. I thought we were living in the 21st century - not the 19th century," he said.

Māori Party co-leader Marama Fox said the language deserved to be celebrated.

"[Te reo Māori] deserves to be heard in Parliament and to accuse someone of hiding behind it deserves to be called out," she said.