Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has railed against the media again, over the reporting of his speech over the weekend.
Peters says the suggestion he compared "co-governance to the holocaust" is "blatant misreporting", and claims that many in the mainstream media "deliberately, deceitfully and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it".
He has also doubled down on his comments and is refusing to apologise for them, despite a talking-to from the prime minister.
Peters delivered his "state of the nation" speech on Sunday afternoon to a packed crowd of supporters in Palmerston North, his roughly hour-long spiel taking aim at Labour, the Green Party, the media, and talking up his party's policies.
During it, he said the country had gone downhill without NZ First in Parliament and race-based theories emerged.
"Without the handbrake, Labour cared more about feelings and ideology than the duty to competently govern our country. New Zealand's debt ballooned. There were multiple fiscal policies with no allocated funding - even lunches in schools is in that category - and the insidious creep of racist co-governance that has spread through legislation and the public sector everywhere, all the way to the real estate licencing provisions.
"Everywhere, manipulated. No manifesto coverage, no campaign, just under-the-radar dirt of this type - and what were the media saying about it? Deafening zero. And ladies and gentlemen we're never going to make it out of this demise if we tolerate that sort of behaviour, over and over again.
"Well, when you have the audacity to say 'there's something dramatically wrong here' - not just about the policy but about the lack of warning - they shout 'racist'. Not just ideological theory, it was race-based theory, where some people's DNA made them, sadly - according to these people and condoned by their cultural fellow travellers - their DNA made them somehow better than others.
"I've seen that sort of philosophy before. I saw it in Nazi Germany. We all did. We've seen it elsewhere around the world in the horrors of history."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Monday said he had not spoken to Peters about the comments, but he planned to.
He said he did not agree with the comments and called for all political leaders to tone down similar commentary - pointing to comments by Labour's Chris Hipkins about the government acting like a dictatorship, and Te Pāti Māori calling them white supremacists and saying they had a genocide agenda.
On Tuesday morning Luxon told Morning Report he had spoken to Peters on Monday night about his comments, but refused to divulge what was said in the exchange because it was a "private conversation".
Later that day, as Peters left the debating chamber he said only about two sentences to the waiting journalists, accusing them of lying and spouting "crap".
Shortly after, his office issued a media statement with the all-caps subject line "MEDIA MISREPRESENTATION, INCONSISTENCY, AND DRIPPING BIAS".
It claimed that "many in the mainstream media" had taken what was said in his speech and "deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it".
He said his speech had not mentioned anything of, nor made comparisons to, the holocaust or genocide, and "nor did I compare it to co-governance", and the comments were instead about Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi saying Māori had "superior genetics".
This was despite his comments about Nazi Germany specifically referencing "racist co-governance", with no mention of Waititi's name.
"I'm not backing down one iota. I want everybody in this country no matter whether they're here for 1000 years or here yesterday legally to be treated the same - equally as one people ... I make no apology for that," the statement said.
Asked if Peters respected the prime minister, Leader of the House Chris Bishop said "yeah, of course ... we're working very, very collegially together, we're in great shape."
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said: "Look, ah, the deputy prime minister can account for all his statements himself, thanks."
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said: "The Deputy Prime Minister can speak to, you know, he can talk to his own, whatever he says. We are very disciplined and we're focused on doing what we need to do."
"We are disciplined and we're focused. We know what we have to do, we know we're completely focused on getting us back on track as a country, there's a lot of work to do and we're all focused on that area."
NZ First Senior Minister Shane Jones was confident the government was aligned.
"The top of our coalition tree is seamless unity," he said. "Look, I think there's a lot of catastrophisation going on, and any further comments to do with those two leaders are above my pay grade."
Winston Peters' statement in full:
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First's State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it.
The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared 'co-governance to the holocaust'. This line has been repeated over again.
The blatant misreporting and subsequent outrage from some journalists is not only a disgraceful example of journalism, but yet another example of blatant political bias.
Here is my full quote referring to the Māori Party Co-Leader Rawiri Waititi's previous comments about Māori having 'superior genetics':
"It was not just ideological theory, it was race-based theory. Where some people's DNA made them, sadly, according to these people, and condoned by their cultural fellow travellers, their DNA made them somehow better than others.
I've seen that sort of philosophy before, I saw it in Nazi Germany, we all did. We have seen it elsewhere in the world in the horrors of history, but right here in our country tolerated by the very people whose job is to keep the system honest."
There was no mention of co-governance or the holocaust.
The clickbait low-grade journalism being shown by some in our media is an insult to the public of New Zealand and to their very own profession.
The dripping bias and subsequent outrage surrounding their self-determined inference of a comparison to the 'holocaust', 'genocide', 'white supremacy' and 'dictatorships' from these journalists, is writ large in their inconsistency when reporting on others.
- Co-Leader of the Māori Party Debbie Ngarewa Packer said this in her maiden speech - "I stand here as descendant of a people who survived a holocaust, a genocide, sponsored by the House and Members of Parliament…"
- The Māori Party shared a screenshot of another users post on Instagram which described the Government parties as 'white supremacists'.
- The Māori Party described the Government's repeal of the smokefree reforms as amounting to 'genocide'.
- RNZ reported on the Posie Parker event quoting the executive director of Auckland Pride saying - "When you look back at Nazi ideology of the 1930's, those things are very much aligned in terms of eradicating rainbow communities from public life."
- The former Green MP Gholriz Gahraman posted a photo on social media, whilst attending the Posie Parker event and her accompanying words - "So ready to fight the Nazis" - referring to Posie Parker and the Women's rights protestors.
Where was the outrage shown by those in the media about these examples of direct and specific comparisons to the 'holocaust', 'genocide', 'Nazis' and 'Nazi ideology'?
And when did they media rush down to the Synagogue and ask about these statements? Not one of them did.
Not once in my speech did, I mention anything of, nor made comparisons to, the horrific holocaust or genocide, nor did I compare it to co-governance.
I stated a fact that Waititi made public comments about a certain race and ethnicity having superior DNA to other races and ethnicities in our country - and that we had seen that before, knowing that is the seed of division, racism, and the 'horrors of history'. That statement I made is a fact.
The moment you argue that one race has superior DNA to other races you're leading to awful racial consequences.
I'm not backing down one iota. I want everybody in this country no matter whether they're here for 1000 years or here yesterday legally to be treated the same - equally as one people.
I make no apology for that.