8 posts tagged “winston peters”

That’s it: the Foreign Minister-outside-Cabinet, Winston Peters, has stepped down temporarily while the Serious Fraud Office investigates whether funds donated to his political party, New Zealand First, were used as intended.
   The pressure has mounted for weeks on Peters, and on PM Helen Clark to suspend him.
   It is a rare slip-up for the former National politician-turned-Labour ally who has relied on skilful media manipulation for most of his career.
   Images of Peters holding up a ‘No’ sign some months ago in denying journalists’ allegations of his receiving and failing to declare political-party donations from businessman Owen Glenn may haunt him.
   The Glenn matter is under a separate parliamentary privileges’ investigation.
   It was reported in the Australian-owned Fairfax Press, which owns The Dominion Post newspaper: ‘[Peters] said unnamed groups were organising a plot against him and that the SFO was part of it. 
   ‘He said if the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had talked to him he would have convinced them in five minutes that he was not breaking the law.
   ‘He told Radio New Zealand that The Dominion Post was part of the “malevolent planning strategy” and he would not stand down in the face of a “kangaroo court of public opinion, organised by the media in this country and others.”’
   There are agenda at certain publications, but the numerous assaults on Peters this year will be the hardest for him to fight.
   Another question is whether opposition parties can capitalize from the fiasco. National so far has failed to criticize Peters more strongly than Rodney Hide, the leader of the minor right-wing party, ACT.

Rice and Peters—Reuter

I knew I was taller than the Foreign Minister-outside-Cabinet but I didn’t expect his American counterpart, the Secretary of State, to be.

As much as I have gone on record to express a dislike for the Hon Winston Peters, the Foreign Minister Outside Cabinet, and express an admiration for TV One talking head Paul Henry, the Foreign Minister’s interview tonight on Close-up (which I still think of as a weekly Thursday night show) was very much won by Mr Peters.
   In it, he defended himself on the Owen Glenn affair by going on the warpath, accusing journalists of cooking up falsehoods and writing stories before they had researched them.
   As I have written here and elsewhere regularly, we have seen many examples of poor journalism, and one sympathizes with Mr Peters.
   His attacking style—coupled with confidence and some might say smugness—played on emotions well, using a mixture of rose-coloured glasses (‘There was a time in New Zealand when …’) and a keen understanding of the law.
   It also exposed the inadequacy of the research that was given to Mr Henry and his colleagues, and the desire of the MSM to sometimes cook up sensationalism when there are better things to do.
   As to whether there would be an ambassadorial role in return for political donations, Mr Peters handled that matter well, too, saying that the government had left the matter over a consul to Monaco at large since 1996.
   It was a reminder that while as daft as some of Mr Peters’ arguments have been over the years—to the point of being a broken record—he is a skilful politician who seems to have rediscovered some of his former vigour.

Lucire’s Sylvia Giles has just returned from an assignment in Melbourne, Victoria, and blogged about the state of race relations in Australia. I trust Sylvia’s judgement (otherwise, why would she be writing for us?) and it was very sad to see that even regular Australians from her random sample did not have good things to say about Prime Minister Howard’s record. And I had been quite supportive of the PM and of Alexander Downer, especially when they tried to back up alleged terrorist and al-Qaeda trainee David Hicks (in contrast to the laziness of our own Foreign Minister-outside-Cabinet, Winston Peters). Sadly, Sylvia gives us a lot of food for thought and may provide an answer to the age-old (well, age and a half) question, ‘Where the bloody hell are you?’

[Cross-posted] I’ll keep the identity of the company secret, but I was invited to a do on April 3 here in Wellington, relating to the “Asian” community. Guest of honour: the Foreign Minister-outside-Cabinet, the Hon Winston Peters. The question one has to ask is: why?
   I know they probably don’t read this blog, but surely inviting a man who has slagged off almost all 3·7 billion Asians on the planet (and perhaps more specifically the billion-plus of us with yellow skin) for political gain is dangerous, and does their brand harm from the outset? Unless they tell me they are “building bridges”, but then again, Ahmadinejad had some Jewish fellas at a Middle East conference he hosted.
   I am in Auckland that day anyway, and wrote back to say that if they wanted me there, then their guest of honour should expect to be upstaged!
   Back on Bruce Robinson’s case on March 1. I’m doing the Foreign Minister’s job at my own expense and I could have sought compensation rather publicly!

Good news, from the Robinson family on my answerphone: Bruce Robinson was granted bail 5.30 p.m. Polish time. For all those who sent their prayers or signed the petition, thank you. He’s not out yet: the prosecutor can still appeal and had originally expected to be able to keep Bruce in jail till June, so confident he was of his situation. However, it seems a fair judge may have heard the pleas for bail.
   Despite our government’s inaction, hold your breath for the Foreign Minister-outside-Cabinet taking credit for all our hard work. Now we have to make sure he gets a fair trial, so I’ll still be active on it.

[Cross-posted] Bruce Robinson, the New Zealander in a 15 m² Polish jail cell, with seven other blokes, who is allegedly being ignored by the Foreign Minister-outside-Cabinet and other members of the diplomatic mission in Poland, now has a petition set up for his cause.
   As reported on this blog, both the Minister and now, the Prime Minister, have said they will not interfere in Poland’s sovereign processes.
   This is ironic, since both politicians are quite happy to interfere when the targets are easier.
   Contrary to the Dominion Post report today, the petition was set up by Bruce’s sister, Lyn. And yes, I do have the inside line on this case now, and have done for some time, with the Robinson family’s blessing.
   But at least the Fairfax press has not repeated a one-sided story from the Foreign Minister, who initially accused TV One of being unfair to him when Rawdon Christie first uncovered the story, and The New Zealand Herald willingly obliged with republication.
   I hate it how this guy always plays the victim, just to cover the fact he cannot do his job.
   But let’s not split hairs. It’s important word gets out and we sign this petition and get the government to act. We are paying taxes and I am wondering why the hell we need to, if we do not go to bat for our own.
   Even the Aussies have gone to bat for David Hicks, the alleged terrorist held at Gitmo. Both John Howard and Alexander Downer have seen Bush, Condi, Rumsfeld and Gates and Alberto Gonzales for this one guy. All Bruce is guilty of is patriotism and travelling on his New Zealand passport.
   Sign here, even if you are not in New Zealand.

When I think about the case of Bruce Robinson, the New Zealander in jail in Poland, I contrast it to the case of Australian David Hicks.
   Why hold a New Zealand passport at all, if your Foreign Minister doesn’t measure up to his Australian counterpart’s efforts when you are chucked into prison?
   Whether Downer has been effective is one thing, but note: he has been talking to the President, to Condi, to Alberto, and to Bob Gates (and presumably Don Rumsfeld). Now, I’ll be impressed if our Foreign Minister-outside-Cabinet has talked to the same parties in Poland.
   Cripes, I might travel on my Pommy passport next time.