Alarming or just vintage Peters?

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Winston Peters has never been far from the headlines in his long political career and he has been at it again in the past few days, with comments on the Government’s “fiscal hole” and a comparison of co-governance with Nazi Germany in a controversial state of the nation speech.

Fresh from an overseas tour in his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a role he has always relished, Peters has signalled that he will not compromise on his election commitments — even as he confirmed the Government was $5.6 billion short of what it needed to pay for all the campaign commitments of the three governing parties.

He went as far as describing the economy as broken but suggested that despite the shortfall, the policies will be implemented — adding that it was in the construction of the economic plan going forward where all these things could be done . . . but he had not heard it just yet.

Questioned whether the coalition could afford all its commitments, he replied: “Our ones, yes.”

But already one party has had to compromise, with Act agreeing that the reinstatement of tax deductibility for landlords would not be backdated — signalling that there could be a lot of bargaining behind closed doors ahead for the governing partners.

Peters moved on to much more controversial ground when he compared co-governance with the policies of Nazi Germany. New Zealand had gone backwards during the last government term when, without the handbrake of New Zealand First,  race-based theories emerged, he said.

“Some people’s DNA made them, sadly, according to these people and condoned by their cultural fellow travellers, their DNA made them somehow better than others,” he said.

“I’ve seen this sort of philosophy before. I saw it in Nazi Germany. We all did. We’ve seen it elsewhere around the world with the horrors of history.”

It was a sweeping statement from Peters and one which many people will find extreme and alarming, coming from the man who is at present second in control of the country.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins accused Peters of using racism and anti-media rhetoric to divide the country — saying “Kiwis deserve better than a deputy prime minister who behaves like a drunk uncle at a wedding”.

Yesterday Peters clarified that the Nazi reference was specifically responding to comments by Te Pāti Māori members about Māori having a stronger genetic make-up.

Throughout his four-and-a-half-decade-long political career, Peters has had an ability to “read the room” and tailor his statements to meet the prevailing mood of his core support base. Could this be one of his missteps, or do his supporters accept and agree with his views?