Winston Peters, Shane Jones again attack migrant Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March
New Zealand First MPs Winston Peters and Shane Jones have once again attacked Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March for being a migrant – this time because he referred to the country’s name as Aotearoa during Question Time.
Rather than apologise, Peters has indicated he will seek to update Parliament’s standing orders.
The Greens have criticised the Prime Minister for a lack of accountability, and said he was still yet to respond to a letter they wrote him the last time Menéndez March was attacked three weeks ago.
In a question to immigration minister Erica Stanford regarding the case of Daman Kumar, Menéndez March referred to the country as Aotearoa, causing Peters to raise a point of order.
“Why is someone who applied to come to this country in 2006 allowed to ask a question of this Parliament that changes this country’s name without the referendum and sanction of the New Zealand people?” Peters asked.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee reminded Peters that Menéndez March was an elected member of the House, and if someone was using a name others found unacceptable he could not do much about that.
However, Brownlee later encouraged MPs to use Aotearoa-New Zealand instead of Aotearoa by itself.
“It’s probably not an unreasonable thing to perhaps use, if you want to, the two names Aotearoa-New Zealand, but not just the one. Quite clearly, the minister is sworn in as a minister of government in New Zealand. Simple as that.”
This point was challenged by Labour’s Kieran McAnulty, who said in any other instance a direct translation from English to te reo Māori was permissible.
Brownlee acknowledged that Standing Orders made it clear that MPs could address the House in te reo or in English.
“The issue around the geographic naming of New Zealand is a slightly different thing, and I’ll take some time to think about that and come back to the House,” he said.
McAnulty also asked whether it was acceptable for a MP to question the legitimacy of the presence of another MP to make a political point.
Menéndez March was born in Mexico, but like all MPs is a New Zealand citizen.
Peters’ New Zealand First colleague Jones chimed in with a question of his own.
“Can you also contemplate the appropriateness of recent immigrants telling Māori what the name of our country should be?” Jones retorted.
Speaking after Question Time had finished, Menéndez March said New Zealand First was once again launching attacks on migrant communities.
Three weeks ago Jones yelled “send the Mexicans home” and Peters told Green migrant MPs to “show some gratitude.”
You really do have to feel for poor old Uncle Winston and Matua Shane.
They have played the Māori-guy-slagging-off-other-Māori for the redneck European New Zealand brigade for decades now and it’s always been a tub thumper of a dog whistle, but with David Seymour greedily sucking up all the news oxygen with his Treaty Principles Referendum, Uncle Winston and Matua Shane can’t get no traction satisfaction!
You wouldn’t even realise that right now Uncle Winston and Matua Shane have policy put forward to strip the Treaty of Waitanagi out of all legislation, now you would think a move as drastically racist as that would excite the NZ Redneck electorate, but sadly for Uncle Winston and Matua Shane, David’s full bodied snake oil drives the bigots wild with desire and they are flocking to ACT.
Poor Uncle Winston and Matua Shane.
That’s why when they started slagging off migrant New Zealanders after a few whiskeys and finally got some media oxygen they’ve decided to double down and make a commitment to always smearing Ricardo Menéndez March because it got them a tiny amount of reactionary attention.
It’s so sad, so desperate and even if it works and gives NZF a point lift it’s deplorable behaviour.
It’s the ugliest and most desperate of politics and highlights what Winston will do to keep above 5%.
Ugh.
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Very childish of both Winston and Jones.This is Winston of old.
Are you related to Jekyll and Hyde by any chance?
full brother and also to the fister
The NZF siamese twins are trying to remain relevant.
It’s bullying plain and simple and it needs sorting out because we are becoming a sad little country disappearing fast down the rabbit hole with racists and cookers clinging on like limpets to the flag pole. Sadly nothing will be done because we have the most useless PM in the history of PM’s.
Agree with ya NMG we also have the most useless government with the most useless Ministers.
Agree with ya NMG we also have the most useless government with the most useless Ministers.
Winston is just a puppet of foreign interests like Juliet Moses, so it’s pretty rich for him to pretend that he’s standing up for New Zealand.
Would it be against the rules of the house for someone to stand and say to Jones, ‘F off you rotund wanker?’. I mean if we are going the have click bait why not something a lot more people would agree with. Or tone it down a bit. A chant of “who ate all the fish pies” perhaps
Useless PM, useless government, useless ministers, we are fucked
They look like Statler and Waldorf. Literal Muppets.
What these two wankers need to remember is Te Reo has been an official language of NZ for a lot longer than English which was only Listed as such last year under the first 100 days of back door legislation .Till then the only other official language of NZ has been sign language .These two are just trying to cash in on the Trump ferral behaviour .
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