Peters sides with Super Fund after PM’s complaint

NZ First leader Winston Peters has defended New Zealand Super Fund boss Adrian Orr over his 23.4 per cent pay rise last year, taking a swipe at Prime Minister Bill English. Peters said the Super Fund board’s decision to grant a pay rise that could have been as high as 36 per cent was justified, given it had ‘‘over-achieved in every aspect’’. English’s criticism of the pay rise was hypocritical given he had ‘‘built up a mountain of public debt in this country’’ as finance minister, Peters said.