Winston Peters: National has ‘sex maniacs’
NZ First leader Winston Peters says the ‘‘sex maniacs’’ within the National Party are proof he made the right choice in forming a coalition Government with Labour in 2017.
Peters, who has in recent days emerged from post-election doldrums for his party’s annual meeting, made the comments in an interview with Newstalk ZB yesterday.
NZ First was voted out of Government and Parliament in September last year.
He was, in a speech on
Sunday, critical of Labour policies including the decision to buy the land at Ihuma¯tao, upping the bright line test, removing referendums on Ma¯ori wards, and the car feebate scheme.
Asked during the interview to respond to criticism that he got New Zealand ‘‘into this mess’’ by supporting a Labour Government, Peters said: ‘‘You look at the sex maniacs and the mess that they are in now and tell me, what option did I have?
‘‘Come on, talk to anyone ... you have seen one after the other go, can you please tell me what option I had if that was what I had to go with.
‘‘And I am the guy who was with the National Party before a lot of those people were even born.’’
It is unclear what Peters was referring to.
Former National MP Andrew Falloon quit politics in the lead-up to the election, after allegations of him sending indecent pictures to young women emerged. Jake Bezzant, a former candidate for the Upper Harbour electorate, left the party earlier this month as a former girlfriend alleged he used explicit images of her in order to impersonate her in sexting conversations with other men.
Peters also suggested that Labour had hidden a contentious report on Ma¯ori governance, called He Puapua, from him when he was deputy prime minister.
‘‘You are meant to be a team working together . . . There were ones which I did not see, like He Puapua, which is a straight out report on Ma¯ori separatism, which was kept from me.
‘‘There is no explanation for it, you have got it one side of the Cabinet, which happens to be one party, the other party does not know. I am waiting around for someone to explain to me how is that good faith?’’