Recent Parliament behaviour ‘the seeds of anarchy’, Peters says
Winston Peters, the deputy prime minister and NZ First leader, has posted a lengthy statement on social media deriding what he describes as “slipping” standards in Parliament, which he says are an embarrassment to the public.
It comes after Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden said the c-word in the House during a lively question time, which was a first for Parliament, and after Parliament’s Privileges Committee last night recommended suspending three Te Pāti Māori MPs, including its co-leaders, for performing a haka during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill last year.
Peters, after van Velden said the c-word in the House, could be seen doubled over in his chair holding his head in his hands.
“From relaxing the dress standards in our House to now having utter disorder and the worst of offensive words uttered in question time – no matter which side of opinion you’re on – and with no reaction or repercussion,” he wrote.
“How should we as politicians expect the people of New Zealand to view us all now? We have out of control MPs who flout the rules and intimidate others with outrageous hakas and offensive language and now getting banished for weeks.”
He said the actions were not reflective of a democracy, and were the “seeds of anarchy”.
He also railed against MPs wearing more casual clothing in Parliament. “We have MPs wearing t-shirts and sneakers, hats and, sunglasses and jerseys and even occasionally barefooted.
“What have we as so called ‘respectable parliamentarians’ become? “It is an outrage. And New Zealanders have a right to be outraged,” he said.
“And what do we as a House and even those in the political press gallery do? Collectively sit back and cower and hope no one notices, hope no one says the wrong thing.
He added he had “never seen this level of degradation of our democracy in my many years of politics.
“New Zealanders should be more fearful than outraged. We are in danger of losing this battle for decency, values, and the principles our country was built on.
Steady on Champ.
Winston’s impassioned appeal for standards is just outrageous pearl clutching for culture war boomers!
Hold the phone blocker!
Why was there a Haka?
Because HIS Government brought an appalling ting racist piece of ACT Party trash legislation to the very heart of our Democracy and attempted to stab the Treaty through the herts!
Winston’s Government allowed this race baiting war to be brought to the debating chamber of our House, that Māori would protest defiantly such an egregiously racist and destructive Bill all because Chris Luxon is too weak and got played by Seymour is absolutely legitimate and it is this context that Winston utterly ignores as he cries out, ‘Won’t someone think about the children’.
Likewise the use of the c word, again, this is in reaction to an appalling war on working women who have robbed of future wage rises under a process that was fair and rational. This Government rammed this through misusing urgency with zero input from the people while stealing billions from working men and women who do our most difficult jobs!
The only think more audacious than Winstons crying about standards his Government has provoked is listening to Nicola Willis and Brooke van Velden playing the offended Karen routine at being righteously called the c word by one of the best Political Commentators in NZ.
These right wing fanatics implement these culture war fantasies and then just expect us to roll over and take it!
This is a fucking Democracy Winston, it’s not bingo night at te local RSA!
Your Government has wielded immense hate and spite towards the people you’ve declared enmoues of the state, how dare you call for ‘standards’ now?
And can we just talk about those seeds of anarchy for a second Winston, because your favourite attack hate troll, Rhys Williams, has been sowing some seeds for you hasn’t he?
Let’s have a look at that Harvest Winston…
Inside the murky evolution of Dirty Politics 2.0
A Sunday Star-Times investigation reveals how keyboard warriors have found a home in NZ First’s orbit, reviving attack-style politics, report National Affairs Editor Andrea Vance and investigative reporter Charlie Mitchell.
The tip-off came from out of the blue.
A small-town journalist received a phone call from a man offering a salacious scoop. A young, self-styled journalist with a combative online presence had secretly uploaded explicit videos of himself to a porn site.
“I wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for from me,” the journalist told the Sunday Star-Times.
“I think he thought that if there was enough information that he could feed me — juicy information — then he would expect something from me”.
The journalist hung up, unsettled by the conversation. He chose not to follow up. But in the days afterwards, it became clear the tip was linked to a loosely coordinated, fiercely partisan network of online accounts that had formed in the orbit of NZ First.
The caller was Rhys Williams, a Taranaki businessman behind an influential X (formerly Twitter) account. The account had previously targeted Green MP Benjamin Doyle, sparking a wave of backlash that at times veered into personal abuse.
Williams had apparently set his sights on an online foe: a 25-year-old university student behind a fringe news website that mocked Williams and others like him as “cookers”. The student had antagonised Williams and others for months, often in harsh and insulting terms.
Soon after the tip-off call, rumours swirled online. An X account belonging to Inflection Point — a group linked to Williams — posted a screenshot of a now-deleted account on a porn site allegedly associated with the student.
Others joined in. Sean Plunket, founder of The Platform media outlet, who has tangled with the student online, taunted him with a cryptic jab on X. Political operative Glenn Inwood and property developer Vlad Barbalich — both known associates of Williams —shared similarly veiled references. There appeared to be foreknowledge.
That evening, Williams named the student publicly.
“Most reading this will not know who he is,” Williams wrote.
“What he is is the product of the far left […] a 25-year-old who is unable to control his compulsions, or moderate his emotional response or understand consequences.”
He accused the student of uploading “illegal and disgusting” videos, and implied the porn account had been deleted only after the student realised it would be exposed.
(The Sunday Star-Times has reviewed an archived version of the porn account. While incomplete, much of the content does not appear to be illegal, though some videos show behaviour, including public masturbation, that could potentially be prosecuted.)
The online reaction was swift and vicious. Commenters called the student “sick” and “deranged”. One post, shared by Williams, likened him to serial killer Ted Bundy.
Inwood and Barbalich shared the post, as did Cameron Slater, the former Whale Oil blogger once synonymous with such attacks.
Williams’ post included a video that showed two of the student’s associates. One has since filed a complaint with police.
The other was Matthew Tukaki, a political commentator and former director of the Suicide Prevention Office.
Tukaki said he had arranged mental health support for the student and was worried about his wellbeing.
“This is a serious matter. I think he is at risk of self-harm.”
The student declined to comment on the record, but has continued posting online without directly addressing the accusations.
Williams, meanwhile, is defiant. He has continued attacking the student, calling him a “creep” and “unhinged”.
He did not respond to questions from the Star-Times, instead mocking the reporters online as “pathetic gutter retards” working on a “bullshit story from a trio of fantasists and an assortment of other gimps”.
…the cruelty and malice these Right Wing Hate Trolls act with has no place in NZ Politics.
This was Winston’s response to the damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, damning, posts Andrea raised…
…oh we know why you keep going up in the Polls Winston, that’s our issue love. You are endlessly flirting with antivaxx rednecks and using the worst agents of Dirty Politics to gain that polling traction!
That Winston doesn’t even attempt to engage with the evidence Andrea highlights and instead claims she is a conspiracy theorist is the most Trump thing Winston has done to date.
NZFirst are a culture war party who have weaponised grievance and are relying on Hate Trolls to dispatch NZF enemies and push their talking points.
It’s like MAGA but less humorous.
The pus pit of NZFirst’s new hate politics is generating divisive online cultural vandalism for shits and giggles.
Political Sadism shouldn’t be celebrated, it should be alienated while simultaneously challenged and denounced.
Watching Winston lecture us about standards when he has these types of operatives helping him is like Trump complaining feminists don’t like him.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
Parliaments standards started slipping the moment Peters was elected with his accusations under parliamentary privilege but little reliable evidence available. He has mastered the art of providing for his own needs while providing a few beads and trinkets to enough low aspiration voters to keep getting elected.
Winston Peters demands that we respect Tim Jago’s mates. We humans will not respect Tim Jago or David Seymour or any other person with their proclivities.
Winston whines about the ‘sacredness’ of Parliament. When the courts found that the way that he stole his first election, by illegally challenging valid votes, was illegal.
Winston Peters is a lying bastard so it’s just laughable that he gets sanctimonious about a word.
Let alone he and that fat bastard Shane Jones telling someone to go back to Mexico! Tell them both to sod off.
Standards in the New Zealand parliament sunk as low as they could go when Winston Peters condoned the genocide in Gaza. Now he is complaining about people who don’t wear shoes, or do wear hats. Winston has always thought that dress standards are the highest level of public morality. He needs to be told that he is wrong. He needs to know that mass murder and the butchery of children are more serious matters than one’s choice of shirt or tie.
Comments are closed.