Foreign Minister Winston Peters appeared to distance himself from the trade commitment in a long-form media interview. Photo / Mike Scott
Foreign Minister Winston Peters appeared to distance himself from the trade commitment in a long-form media interview. Photo / Mike Scott
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says the Government should take a different approach to its commitment to securing a free trade deal with India before the next election.
In a wide-ranging interview with broadcaster Peter Williams, Peters distanced himself from the Government’s promise to complete the dealby 2026 and suggested a better approach would be to secure trade wins in certain industries.
“I’m not the one who said we were going to get a free trade deal, I just said what we have got to do is ... get a whole lot of things right in this industry, this industry and this industry and all of a sudden it will start looking like New Zealand’s got a serious free trade arrangement.”
After mentioning Australia’s deal with India, Peters said: “It’s not a great deal but I think we could do better if we don’t ask for the free trade deal but we’ve got to be far more relevant to [India].”
He believed New Zealand needed a larger diplomatic presence in India to “build connections”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has remained committed to the promise, despite the challenges it faced.
Previous negotiations hadn’t resulted in a deal, with the last formal set of talks held nearly a decade ago. India’s strong agriculture sector meant it was hesitant to open its market up to other countries’ dairy products – a big barrier for New Zealand given dairy is a major export.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and India's Narendra Modi meet for the first time on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Laos. Photo / Jamie Ensor
Asked yesterday if he was confident Peters was committed to securing the deal this term, Luxon said he hadn’t seen Peters’ comments but claimed the Government was “really aligned on deepening our trade relationship with India”.
He noted how he, Peters, Trade Minister Todd McClay and Defence Minister Judith Collins met regularly to discuss New Zealand’s relationship with global partners.
Luxon also cited Modi’s invitation for him to visit India early next year. It wasn’t yet confirmed when that visit would take place.
Peters’ almost hour-long interview with Williams, filmed on October 10 and released on social media yesterday, covered a range of topics including the Treaty Principles Bill, the future of New Zealand First and the Government’s fast-track consenting legislation.
One topic was the Government’s planned changes to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act, prompted by a Court of Appeal decision that made it easier for iwi, hapū and whānau to have customary marine title recognised.
Peters told Williams he believed the court’s decision was “appalling” and rejected the suggestion the Government’s intervention violated the convention of politicians not interfering with the judiciary.
“They are the ones that are interfering, they are the ones who have become judicial activists,” he said.
“They have decided to assume authorities and make statements that they are not empowered to make and have no authority to make and are not democratically elected to make. Their job is to interpret the law, not write the law.”
NZ First leader Winston Peters is aiming to double his party's representation in Parliament in the next term. Photo / Mike Scott
Similar criticisms of the judiciary by ministers of the current Government had prompted Attorney-General Collins to get involved. In September, Collins condemned NZ First Minister Shane Jones for calling a High Court judge a “communist”.
In a statement, Collins didn’t critique Peters’ comments, saying: “I have regular conversations with my colleagues on comity and the importance of an independent judiciary.”
On other matters, Peters repeated his threat from earlier this year that the Government could withhold taxpayer funding for Sport New Zealand if it didn’t comply with the Government’s wishes concerning the inclusion of transgender people in community sport.
He also provided a creative response to Williams’ questioning about why the Government’s official website was headed with te reo Māori, despite the coalition’s agreement to have an English-first approach.
“People are not paying attention ... you really [have] got to take a pitchfork sometimes around to some of these people and tell them, ‘Do this or I’m going to poke your bum’, that’s how arrogant they are.”
Peters was set to hand over the Deputy Prime Minister role to Act leader David Seymour mid-next year.
When asked, Peters didn’t believe it would result in less influence around the Cabinet table for him, saying the focus by then would be on the 2026 election.
Speaking as NZ First leader, Peters said the party’s “big ambition” was to double the number of MPs in Parliament in the next term. Currently, the party was represented by eight MPs including Peters.
He claimed NZ First would have achieved 14% in the 2023 election – double the 6.8% it received – if the party’s campaign hadn’t been “stalled” amid questions to then-National leader Luxon over whether he would rule out working with NZ First.
Peters, now 79, remained committed to contesting the next election.
“I’m confident and yes, I am going to equip myself for 2026 and I will be 81 years of age and that’s bad news for my opponents.”
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
