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Home / New Zealand

Claire Trevett: Foreign Minister Winston Peters explains tweets by NZ First leader. Sort of

Claire Trevett
By Claire Trevett
Political Editor, NZ Herald·NZ Herald·
23 Nov, 2019 04:00 PM4 mins to read

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Foreign Minister Winston Peters at the G20 meeting with counterparts (from left) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (India), Marise Payne (Australia) and Marsudi (Indonesia). Photo / Twitter

Foreign Minister Winston Peters at the G20 meeting with counterparts (from left) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (India), Marise Payne (Australia) and Marsudi (Indonesia). Photo / Twitter

COMMENT

Foreign Minister Winston Peters arrived in Nagoya in Japan amidst a flurry of tweets bellowing about fake news and hypocrites from that NZ First leader, Winston Peters.

The tweets related to coverage back home about the NZ First Foundation and donations.

The tweets landed as Peters travelled from New Zealand, across to Australia, then to Tokyo, then to Nagoya on the bullet train.

They scattered behind him like droppings.

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The best was the first - the one in which he said he was off to Japan for the G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting. "So we're off to try and sort out the world."

Then, the tweet continued, "When we get back we are going to sort out the media."

Once he got there, Peters insisted any media questions be related to the G20 only.

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He was now Foreign Minister only and the NZ First leader part of him was in silent mode.

This resulted in a strategic approach by the only New Zealand media waiting for him in Japan - the NZ Herald.

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Told he would only take G20 questions, the NZ Herald decided technically the first half of Peters' first tweet was in bounds - the promise to try to sort out the world at the G20.

But two halves make a whole, so the second question followed: How, exactly, would he "sort out the media"?

This all prompted Peters to litigate exactly when those tweets were sent. He did not tweet them on the way over. He did not tweet them before he left, either.

He said that, yes, he had "personally prepared" the tweets. "But as for when somebody hit the button, that was not me."

That settled, he gave his answer to the question as to how he would sort out the media.

"All I'm going to say, and that's the end of this questioning, you stand back and watch."

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In some ways Japan should be Peters' idea of heaven.

It has very low immigration - so low that its population is shrinking - estimated to drop from 120 million to 100 million by 2030.

It also has lots of trains which go to the regions. Peters loves trains and Japan's include the bullet train and - coming soon to a prefecture near you - the super-bullet train, the "super-conducting maglev Shinkansen", in 2027.

It will halve the time it takes to get between Tokyo and Nagoya (354.3 km, according to Google Maps) to 40 minutes.

Of course, Peters may be less fond of other Japanese customs, such as that of taking accountability for wrongs - even sometimes only perceived wrongs - by resigning. Japan has a history of Prime Ministers resigning simply because they started losing popularity.

Japan's former Minister of Justice Katsuyuki Kawai recently resigned after reports his wife, a politician, made payments to election staff over the legal limit and that he had treated voters to gifts of corn and potatoes.

Last month, it was the former Trade Minister Isshu Sugawara who resigned over a report that "incense money" - a monetary condolence gift - was given in his name to a supporter. He cited shame.

The other fly in the ointment for Peters in this regard is the media, which appears to be just as annoying for the politicians in Japan as Peters finds his domestic versions.

While it is now autumn in Japan, the deeds of last spring have come back to haunt Japan's PM, Shinzo Abe.

The scandal of the moment was the revelation many of Abe's supporters had been invited to a taxpayer-funded cherry blossom festival event.

The Japan Times has gone into the invitation list in forensic detail.

Yesterday's twist was that the sake served at the event had come from Abe's own home prefecture. Regional patronage. That rings a bell.

In Japan, the region of Aichi also makes a lot of robots, some of which were on display at the G20. One made tea.

Another was called a "Power Assist Suit". It was designed to help lift heavy objects.

Perhaps Peters could commission one to take over as NZ First leader when he was being Foreign Minister.

Claire Trevett is in Japan as part of a journalists' programme funded and organised by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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