PM: Nats irresponsible over pact

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the National Party’s campaign against New Zealand signing a United Nations pact on migration was irresponsible and built on misinformation.

Ardern’s comments came after Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters revealed he had received more death threats following the Government’s decision to sign the pact, which legal advice made clear had no binding force on New Zealand.

The prime minister said she didn’t ‘‘keep a tally’’ of death threats, but agreed with Peters that the National Party’s strong campaign against the pact was irresponsible.

‘‘I did hold concerns because we weren’t having a debate that was anchored in the facts. The migrant compact that was being debated globally just wouldn’t have the effect that the National Party claimed,’’ Ardern said.

‘‘They claimed we wouldn’t retain sovereignty over our own borders; that is totally and completely factually incorrect. What they were saying was just wrong.

‘‘And the movement around it was by a very particular group who had a very particular desire,’’ Ardern said, likely referring to Far Right political parties in Europe that pushed opposition to the pact.

‘‘I hadn’t really seen that in mainstream political parties, so yes, I was concerned.’’

National campaigned hard against the pact last December, launching a petition against it and promising to withdraw from it if elected.

The petition was later deleted in the hours after the Christchurch mosque attack.

The alleged gunman wrote a reference to the pact on one of his weapons.

‘‘This compact defers our immigration policy to the UN. It also restricts the ability of future governments to set immigration and foreign policy, and to decide on which migrants are welcome and which aren’t,’’ the petition read.

Legal advice from Crown Law said the pact in no way undermined sovereignty or the ability for New Zealand to set its own laws, instead containing ‘‘political or moral commitments only’’.

The pact itself has absolutely no legally binding force.

National leader Simon Bridges said his party was the most proimmigration party in Parliament and were not dog-whistling.

The National Party still has a policy to remove New Zealand from the pact, although it wasn’t explicitly mentioned in a recent foreign policy discussion document.

Bridges said that while the pact may be ‘‘non-binding’’ he believed judges might still pay attention to it.