Christopher Luxon and Erica Stanford speak to the media
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says remarks made in the House about Mexicans which have been branded ‘xenophobic’ by the Green Party are “not words I would use”.
Luxon has faced questions this afternoon about the conduct of his senior ministers Winston Peters and Shane Jones afterthey were accused of making “xenophobic” and “racist” comments.
Luxon said every MP needed to “watch your language” and mind the rhetoric being used in Parliament.
A press conference is being livestreamed at the top of this file.
The Greens’ Ricardo Menéndez March alleges that the ministers engaged in “xenophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric” this week that potentially “emboldens poeple on the ground who may feel like they’ve been given a greenlight to say that kind of stuff in public”.
“That can lead to violence,” Menéndez March said.
“The Prime Minister’s missing in action when it comes to holding his own ministers to account.”
On Tuesday, while speaking in the House, NZ First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Peters told Green MPs Lawrence Xu-Nan and Francisco Hernandez to “show some gratitude” for being in New Zealand.
Shane Jones in his Beehive office. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“The very people who are here on the very refuge that we give to them have come here with their ideas, foreign to our country, native to theirs, and they wish to impose them upon our Parliament. No, you don’t.
“You’re not going to succeed here. You might be laughing now, you might be laughing now, but you’ll be crying tomorrow. Come to this country, show some gratitude.”
Also that day, NZ First’s Jones shouted out “send the Mexicans home”. Menéndez March, who was born in Mexico, called that “xenophobic” too.
The Green MP said he wasn’t particularly interested in getting into a tit-for-tat with Jones, but was concerned about the flow-on effect for those in migrant communities.
“What I’m interested in is preventing further harm to our migrant communities, and this is why this has to go to the Prime Minister.”
Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March. Photo / RNZ
Asked by Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morning whether he stood by his comments, Jones said “It’s a Mexican stand-off”.
Peters posted on X (formely Twitter) saying the Greens needed “to stop the pearl clutching and the faux outrage when confronted with the truth”.
“When we have some Green Party MPs who have been here for five minutes lecturing us all on their woke globalist agendas, New Zealand First won’t sit back and take it. “
Jones’ comments follow National Minister Todd McClay yelling “you’re not in Mexico now” during a debate in July last year. McClay later apologised.
