KEY POINTS:
Bullshit? Straight-talking Phil Goff found the right phrase when in Beijing he condemned critics of the China Free Trade agreement with that pithy expletive.
In fact the whole row is now submerged in bullshit.
The Foreign Minister of New Zealand, Winston Peters, opposes the FTA, saying he is
entitled to do so under the "agree to disagree" provisions in New Zealand First's support agreement with Labour.
He says he is free to criticise it when he is in New Zealand but he has to generally toe the Government's line when he is abroad. That is bullshit.
Thanks to modern media, his words have already flashed around the world. He has been heard and the contents noted by every government on the planet. As usual, Winston Peters is indulging in verbal gymnastics.
Michael Cullen says Winston is entitled to oppose the FTA because it's a trade issue not a foreign policy issue. That is bullshit.
According to news reports, shortly after Peters was appointed Foreign Minister, Cullen publicly declared the FTA was one of "the highest foreign policy goals".
Helen Clark has also described it as a platform for further engagement with China - in other words, an instrument of foreign policy.
United Future leader and Revenue Minister Peter Dunne tut-tutted that something needed to be done to better define the boundaries of what ministers such as Winston Peters could say, but he wasn't suggesting that Peters should resign. That is bullshit.
As a minister outside of cabinet, Dunne is in the same position as Peters and, while he wants to slag Peters because he is an opponent, Dunne also wants to keep the door open so he can pull the same stunt if it becomes politically expedient to do so.
National Party leader John Key concedes it's "possible" Winston Peters could remain Foreign Minister under a National government if his support was necessary for the Nats to govern. That is bullshit.
Key could take a hardline stand and refuse to surrender such an important portfolio to Peters. For a man who once famously sneered at the "baubles of office", Winston seems fairly attached to his limo, his free travel, his salary and the prestige that comes with ministerial status.
I believe if National played hardball, Peters would settle for a job where he could do less damage to our national interest. Maybe he could simply stay on as Minister of Racing.
Peters also seems to feel New Zealand First's taxpayer-funded newspaper advertisements against the FTA are not election year advertising in terms of the Electoral Finance Act. That is bullshit.
The ads are blatant political propaganda in an election year and, as vile as the Electoral Finance Act may be, New Zealand First and the people responsible for placing the ads should be prosecuted by the Electoral Commission for not following the law.
Indeed, the whole attack on the FTA is part of a carefully conceived ploy by a desperate Winston Peters to raise the popularity of the party in an election year.
It is no accident that last week New Zealand First deputy leader Peter Brown came out with his bumbling racist attack on Asian migrants.
It is no accident that Peters should then launch into his crusade against the trade agreement with China.
New Zealand First is so low in the polls it faces oblivion at the next election unless it can rally enough redneck support with its campaign against the Yellow Peril.
My guess is this kind of jingoistic posturing will help push the party over the 5 per cent threshold.
Winston has made his political career out of never over estimating the intelligence of a small but sufficient percentage of voters.
Even Goff's use of the phrase is surrounded by bullshit. Peters claims Goff never used the word and attacked the New Zealand Herald, which first ran the story, demanding an apology.
Goff's office subsequently conceded the minister did use the word but only in general, aimed at criticism of the FTA and not Peters in particular. At the risk of repeating myself, that is bullshit.
Peters is a critic of the FTA therefore it applied to him, and others. By the way, Winston Peters and John Minto agreeing with each other is probably the ultimate absurdity.
If Winston Peters genuinely believes this Government is so severely damaging the New Zealand interests and our economy with this deal, he should resign as Foreign Minister.
If he does not, Clark should fire him because he is so obviously a liability to the course this Government wishes to set with our fourth-biggest trading partner and an emerging world superpower.
And Key could always summon the gumption to say Peters will never get such a responsible position under his premiership.
