Indian envoy ‘shocked’

India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand has taken aim at National leader Simon Bridges and his former colleague Jami-Lee Ross in a series of tweets about their conversation regarding the value of ethnic minorities.

Sanjiv Kohli said in a tweet yesterday: “Shocking attitude. Highly inconsistent with NZ values. Hopefully an aberration.

“India and Indians respect and admire this country and its people. Not everybody is for sale. Running a country is different from managing [department store] David Jones.”

An audio file of a telephone call shared between Ross and Bridges was released on social media by the disgruntled Botany MP, where the two discussed a $100,000 donation to the National Party. The two also discussed potential candidates and the dinner Bridges shared with businessman Zhang Yikun.

“Two Chinese would be nice but then, you know, would it be one Chinese and one Filipino? Or, you know, what do we do?” Bridges is heard to say.

“Two Chinese would be more valuable than two Indians, I have to say,” Ross replied.

“Yeah, which is what we’ve got at the moment, right?” Bridges said.

Kohli said: “History has seen lots of expensive bridges failing because of poor workmanship. Those that last are built on mutual respect and trust. Same is true for people holding public positions. They are custodians of people’s trust.”