Peters lets rip with ethnic comments

NZ First leader Winston Peters has again used ethnic comments to claim New Zealanders are being ripped off by foreign companies

This time he has told a Rotorua audience that for mobile phone calls, ‘‘in Papua New Guinea a guy with a bone through his nose is paying less than you’’.

The comments come after Peters made a joke relating to Chinese during his campaign launch speech in West Auckland on Sunday.

Criticising both Labour and National governments that he said had sold large amounts of land to foreigners, he said the sales did not make the actions of either acceptable.

‘‘As they say in Beijing, two wongs don’t make a white,’’ said.

Referring to the Chinese joke, Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy said it was ‘‘disappointing and shameful’’ that politicians were still making fun of an entire race of people in 2014.

‘‘We’re better than this and our political leaders need to realise that,’’ Devoy said yesterday.

In his public meeting appearance in Rotorua yesterday Peters blasted a heckler who brought up the name of rival party Internet-Mana Party.

‘‘Mana Deutschland. What kind of Maori party is that, financed by someone who shouldn’t even be here?’’ Peters said.

‘‘It’s an absolute abomination to the word Maori and Mana. You don’t get it [Mana] by having a big fat German giving it to you. ‘‘He’s turned our nation into a joke.’’ However, Peters didn’t just savage Internet-Mana, turning his guns on National, Labour and Colin Craig’s Conservative Party.

Peters was also happy to concede a past ‘‘mistake’’ when answering a question about gold card fraud.

‘‘My biggest mistake? I should have put my photo on it – remind people who gave [the card] to them,’’ he said.

In a more serious vein, Peters said photo ID should be considered for gold cards to prevent fraud and maintain the integrity of the system.

Peters used the speech to ram home a number of key NZ First messages, focusing on foreign ownership of assets, immigration and the national debt, which he said had reached $150 billion.

‘‘It sent Portugal broke, and Spain broke, and Greece broke – don’t think it won’t happen here,’’ he said.

He was also scathing of claims New Zealand has a ‘‘rock star’’ economy and slammed electorate deals between parties, a situation he described as ‘‘political Siamese twins’’.