Williamson 'known for humour' - Key

Maurice Williamson made jokes about Samoans and Muslims. File photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Prime Minister John Key is downplaying jokes made by his minister Maurice Williamson about Muslims.

Last Thursday Mr Williamson, the Minister for Building and Construction, said in a speech at an awards ceremony that attitudes to foreign ownership often had a lot to do with the ethnicity of the buyer.

"The number of New Zealanders who don't like the idea of overseas investment ... really sort of frightens me ... A lot of it's more to do with racism."

On August 20, he presented two awards and asked MC and Samoan star Oscar Kightley if his "papers were in order".

He also made a joke about Muslims: "What is the difference between Muslims and Kiwis? Muslims get to commit adultery and get stoned, Kiwis get stoned and commit adultery."

And he used the names of Muslim denominations to make a joke about the weather: "Shi'ite in the morning and Sunni in the afternoon," a reference to the two main denominations of the religion."

Prime Minister John Key had previously downplayed the remarks about foreign investment, saying that "humour can backfire a little bit and I think this is an example of that, but as a general rule everyone knows that Maurice has got a strong sense of humour and they accept it comes with the minister in question".

This morning, responding to the jokes about Islam, Mr Key said that Mr Williamson was known for his humour.

"I think it's got to be seen in the context of it was very late in the evening. It sounds like it was some kind of fun-type of dinner.

"He's known for his humour."

Kightley - told the Dominion Post the remark made to him was "a bit fresh" but he wasn't offended.

He said the audience enjoyed Mr Williamson's performance and he appeared "in fine fettle".

Mr Williamson declined to comment last night as he was in Christchurch at a meeting.