Foreign Minister Winston Peters says the Prime Minister's office has conceded Luxon's foreign affairs speech should have been shared with him. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says the Prime Minister's office has conceded Luxon's foreign affairs speech should have been shared with him. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says the Prime Minister’s office concedes it made an error in not sharing Christopher Luxon’s recent foreign affairs speech with him.
That’s despite Luxon’s repeated insistence he doesn’t always need to share his speeches with his ministers.
It follows apparent conflict between Peters and Luxon spilling into public view, even as the pair denied any conflict existed, amid New Zealand’s response to the fallout of US President Donald Trump’s tariff implementation.
Peters, speaking to RNZ from Tonga afterwards, said his advice to politicians was to “tone down”. He also said he hadn’t discussed Luxon’s speech or his calls with the PM.
“So I hope that he’ll get my message and he’ll call me next time,” he said.
Later, in a speech while in Hawai’i, Peters condemned the use of “military language” to describe the fallout of Trump’s tariff, pointing to descriptions of “a trade war” and the “need to fight” had “at times come across as hysterical and short-sighted”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said any claim there was tension between himself and Peters was a "media beat-up". Photo / Mark Mitchell
Luxon had repeatedly warned of the consequences New Zealand could suffer in a “trade war” caused by Trump’s tariffs and concluded his April 10 speech by stating free trade was “worth fighting for – and I’m up for that fight”.
Asked in media interviews about the apparent tension with Peters, Luxon described the issue as a “media beat-up” and said he didn’t always share his speeches with his ministers.
Peters hadn’t answered questions about the matter during his recent Pacific trip, saying he would address domestic issues when he returned to New Zealand.
Speaking to the Herald yesterday, Peters maintained the matter had been “blown out of all proportion”.
However, he claimed Luxon’s speech was supposed to have been shared with him beforehand, which he found following his “inquiries” with the Prime Minister’s office.
“There was a hiccup so I never saw it. That’s why I think it’s a blow-up and a beat-up.”
Peters said the “stuff up” was “not of the Prime Minister’s making”. Asked if it was an error made by Luxon’s office staff, Peters said: “Yes.”
In a statement, a spokesman for Luxon said: “The Prime Minister’s Office has nothing to add to Mr Peters’ comments”.
Luxon is overseas, having spent several days in the United Kingdom meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Before returning to New Zealand on Monday, Luxon is attending annual Anzac Day commemorations in Gallipoli and Pope Francis’ funeral.
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.
