Speaker Trevor Mallard reveals which MP he thinks deserves to be kicked out of Parliament more often

From Paula Bennett's iconic "zip it, sweetie" retort to David Shearer whipping out two dead fish, Parliament's question time has been a key part of New Zealand's democracy with many ups and downs.

But when MPs misbehave too much, they risk getting tossed out by the Speaker of the House.

On Breakfast this morning, current Speaker Trevor Mallard revealed there's one MP he thinks should be thrown out more often.

"[NZ First leader] Winston Peters probably gets away with a bit because he manages to be naughty with a smile, rather than anger," Mr Mallard says.

"I think if you went deep down, Mr Peters deserves to be thrown out more."

The MPs thrown out of Parliament most are National's Nick Smith and former leader Simon Bridges, Mr Mallard says.

He spoke to Breakfast ahead of an upcoming education seminar on question time, revealing a look behind the curtains of New Zealand's democracy.

"It's got a lot of arcane rules and approaches and helping people understand that is a good thing," he says.

"Sometimes it looks like nonsense but actually it's really important, because if the Government's doing things, someone's got to be able to say something about it."

He says one of his favourite moments in Parliament was with David Lange, New Zealand's Prime Minister between 1984 and 1989.

"Back in those days we used to get a lot of Opposition backbenchers ask questions. And there was one time when he was falling out with [then-Finance Minister] Roger Douglas and people were saying that they were looking at things from the opposite ends of telescopes - Longe would see the big picture and Douglas would see the minute one. 

"[Then-National MP] Simon Upton put that to him and he said, 'Yes but at least when you're at the opposite ends of the telescope, you're seeing eye to eye.'"