[ad_1]
On Friday, Winston Peters was complaining.
The NZ First leader had, the night previous, appeared in a primetime election debate beside the leaders of Te Pāti Māori, the Green and ACT parties. Producers of the Newshub Nation Powerbrokers debate were stoked with their primetime spot, noting that last election’s minor parties debate had been relegated to the weekend. Peters was the only candidate outside Parliament to be invited to a major televised debate.
His appearance was described as “disciplined” and “quite funny” by political editor Luke Malpass inThe Post. While, in my review on Stuff, I said the NZ First leader had been “on form” and “performed well”.
Yet Peters was not pleased with the debate and subsequent coverage of it. He took pot shots at its moderator, Rebecca Wright, and Stuff for alleged anti-NZ First “bias” in the debate and its coverage.
Speaking to a well attended public meeting in the Auckland suburb of Remuera, Peters received enthusiastic applause as he told the crowd he did not trust a royal commission process into the Covid-19 pandemic response.
He said politicians were “utterly and totally” responsibile for the anti-madate, pandemic-inspired riot and violence that caused havoc in Wellington early last year.
Newshub
Winston Peters appeared during Thursday night’s Powerbrokers debate.
And he said the mainstream media had been paid off, bought out by the now defunct Public Interest Journalism Fund.
His evidence? A group photo included in my debate review, which had the other party leaders but not Peters.
What Peters didn’t mention was the fact the thumbnail of that story, which is the photo that had been displayed prominently on Stuff, was a photo exclusively of him. He hadn’t been ignored or “cancelled”.
Peters was front and centre.
RNZ’s data anylsis of the debate revealed Peters was actually the most vocal of the night, taking up 23% of air time – more than any other leader.
And during that debate, much time was spent with Peters and Seymour trading barbs.
Peters said Seymour had spent his career trying to imitiate him and questioned his intellegence. While Seymour said Peters had consistantly ruined every government he’d been part of, describing his election campaign as that of “an arsonist showing up dressed as a fireman”.
The two said they would find some way to work together, if cooperation was required to change the government. But Seymour added an important caveat: He would not sit in the Cabinet room with Peters.
Consistently throughout the election campaign, Seymour has criticised Peters’ campaign and vowed not to support any senior ministerial position for the NZ First leader.
But Luxon has been less forthfright.
On Friday, after the minor parties debate aried, Luxon slightly changed his response to the question of working beside Peters.
LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff
National leader Christopher Luxon visited Auckland, urging voters not to take risks.
Asked about Peters, Luxon replied: “The New Zealand people will determine the outcome of the election and that’s why I’m talking directly to them, to make it incredibly clear to them: Do not muck around. Do not be non-intnetional with your party vote,” he said.
“You need to understand what is at risk.”
In previous responses, Luxon had repeated the line he was “not thinking” about Peters, or “not focused” on coalition arrangements.
Peters’ intense focus on issues around Covid-19 and the so-called “culture wars” is a distraction from the campaign Luxon has tried to run in recent weeks. Luxon has talked intently about economic issues and distanced himself from those cultural debates about issues like bilingualism.
In his focus on the centre, Luxon has campaigned on a select few issues – “back to basics” teaching, taxes, and business.
Meanwhile, Peters has sought to appeal to disgruntled voters. His campaign rallies have been most energised when he’s promised to ban sex education in schools, criticised bilingual branding, and vowed to start a new “independent inquiry” into the pandemic response – separate from the royal commission.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
NZ First leader Winston Peters has been touring the country for the past few months, ahead of October’s election.
Asked why he didn’t trust the independence of the royal commission – New Zealand’s most serious form of public inquiry – Peters was combative: “Start being a responsible journalist and report properly.”
“You’ve got terms of reference which are totally limited. Do you not understand that?”
Shortly after, he walked away saying: “I’m not going to stand by while biased corrupt journalists tell me it’s not [bias].”
Holding a printed copy of the Stuff review of Thursday night’s debate, Peters pointed to the photo without him and said: “You took the bribe”.
Asked if he thought the Government was actually bribing reporters to publish certain photos with or without Peters, the former deputy prime minister replied: “I’m not wasting my time with bias!”
He refused to say whether he thought Luxon would work with him after this election. Labour leader Chris Hipkins has ruled out working with Peters, calling him “a force for chaos”.
(Stuff’s political reporting is not funded by NZ On Air.)
[ad_2]