Tensions are high between NZ First and National after deputy National leader Nicola Willis accused Winston Peters of "mischief making" to court voters. Her comments followed criticism from Peters who warned of "predictable consequences" after Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's confidence vote on Tuesday.
Peters on RNZ this morning said the confidence vote called for by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was “unprecedented.”
“When I looked at it and I said, there's going to be consequences, there’s hugely… predictable consequences.
"But what I was astonished by was that they didn't seem to understand, sadly, what they were doing. And here we are part of the coalition where stability of government all the way to the 2026 election [and] beyond, is the critical component. And this is not helpful."
Peters was not informed that the Prime Minister was putting a confidence motion to his MPs.
Asked if he should have under the no surprises clause in the coalition agreement, Peters said it would have been wise to.
“You're asking the question is on a legal basis, but in the plain… ambit of human relations and cooperation, the answer is, of course, yes.”
It leaves Peters; "being concerned… but making one thing darn clear, you guys can carry on doing what you darn well like, but our job is to provide stability for the New Zealand people who are fighting price rises, fuel prices, supermarket, power pricing, that's what New Zealand's are concerned about.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he did not need to inform Winston Peters or David Seymour prior to the confidence vote as he did not think it was important enough.
Earlier in the day, Luxon told ZB's The Country that Peters was "trying to scaremonger" and "crank it up" over the India FTA.
A vote for Winston Peters 'invites further instability'
In response to Peters’ comments, National deputy Nicola Willis, also speaking on RNZ, said: “I'll tell you what invites further instability, a vote for Winston Peters that could result in a Labour, Te Pāti Māori, Green government, and all he is doing is courting votes and trying to cause mischief that way.”
Peters in January was asked if he would work with Labour, and said, “we’re never going back there again.”
Willis said Peters was “just mischief making.”
“There was an emphatic affirmation of support for the Prime Minister and the leadership and what he's doing. And it's very transparent.
“All [Peters is] saying [is] vote for New Zealand First. Now, that's his job. My job is to say vote for National and I am pointing out that the risk with a vote for New Zealand First is it's a risk to prop up a Labour-led government…”
“So he's made his pitch. I'm making mine.”
ACT leader David Seymour said on Tuesday he was pleased to see National stable and; "drawing a line under any trouble they may have had, because we've got a lot of work to do through this fuel crisis we need to fix what matters, which for me, is the cost of living."
20 Comments
Against many predictions three parties have held together a stable and cohesive coalition government for thirty months and then six months out from the election, the main player National thinks to contradict and unravel all that good work by reverting to 2017 - 2023, the destructive and senseless in fighting with personal ambitions of some MPs taking priority over their fundamental duty and responsibilities of being in government. Frankly it is unbelievably crass and ignorant behaviour and it sucks.
Very predictable that Winston would do this before the election. Hard to know why anyone would vote for him, slimy as hell and always has been.
From my anecdotal view, he is the one person calling things out publicly and shaming the likes of Luxon and Hipkins for their words and behaviuours, with the aim of conveying honesty and pragmatism. This seems to attract those who are disenfranchised with the political system and have no hope for anyone, so they gravitate towards him as he is the most relatable to them. That, and he has been demanding accountability for much that occurred since 2020 which again gets a segment of society who feel unheard otherwise. I won't be voting for him personally, but can see why some would depending on their circumstances.
Winston's picking that Labour will take the next election. Let the decoupling begin...
Win might be a bit of a stretch. Maybe 'take a higher number of seats than National' ?
I can see another coalition coming, with the minor parties having a greater number of seats than the major parties would want them to have.
Well spotted. Winnie will team up with whomever keeps supplying him with baubles. A political entreprenuer I think it's called?
The worst part being that he vowed never to align with labour again ever, and sure as hell he will backtrack on that as he has before, if it benefits him and the party to do so. Why do humans have such short memories when voting.
At current polling it could be a two way coalition with Labour and Winnie PM lord help us.
I would prefer this over TPM and Greens and the Hipster....
there is no way in hell that winniw will swallow the pay equity rat, instead it would be a 3 year do nothing co alition, I refer that to a repeat of last Labour and dread to think of Chloe as fin min
haha Jimbo I replied before reading you below, perhaps we are closer on the political spectrum then I imagined.....
As much as I don’t like NZF, I’d rather see a Labour NZF coalition than a Labour Green Maori one. Likewise I’d rather see National NZF than the current 3 way.
Personal preference would be either of Labour or National by themselves but that ain’t happening.
A few other unlikely possibilities that could throw the cat among the pigeons:
- Opportunity get 5% and become kingmaker
- ACT don’t get 5% and Seymour loses Epsom
- Maori don’t win a seat or get 5%
Opportunity are looking likely
Yeah, I've said that before and been kaiboshed but I know so many people who just don't like ANY of the existing faces and still feel they should vote.
Remember Peter Dunne and the Common sense worm on the leader's debate?
TOP just need the right amount of exposure and they will push 5%
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/12-10-2023/the-worm-electrocuted-poli…
Bring back the Worm!
This is classic Winston behaviour. He's about as loyal as Donald Trump is to anyone who annoys him.
Hells bells Winston Peters has been surviving and enduring for the ages and this sort of form has always been at the forefront of his activities and being part of a coalition is not going to prevent it from recurring. Just take it on the chin. Going into a whole who said what and when quarrel is as pointless as it is counterproductive.
Why would Luxon tell Peters about the leadership vote. Caucus is always behind closed doors and purely the business of those inside. The whole idea of the thing. Then they step outside the door with a single message.
Also Luxon did well calling for the vote. Stared down the naughty ones on the back row, who probably shuffled and just looked embarrassed. Go Luxon.
And do we know there was unhappiness with Luxon in caucus. Or was it was just the media interviewing their keyboards. Acknowledging that in a group of 50 there is always one or two having a bad day. Always.
Because the Coalition Agreement has a No Surprises policy.
Such a vote would be a Surprise.
Also might result in a vote of No Confidence, which can trigger an early election. A coalition partner would want to know about that.
Winnie would resurrect his NO sign.
Very Tedious subject for the site.
Time to move on
There's lots of other articles you can read if you don't like this one 😊
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