Nicola Willis has launched a broadside at Winston Peters, saying he has a “track record of picking Labour over National, and that’s the risk you run with him”.
The National Party deputy leader took aim at her coalition partner after he earlier told RNZ Christopher Luxon was wrong to not warn him of Tuesday’s motion of confidence under the no-surprises clause in the coalition agreement.
The comments from both senior ministers on RNZ’s Morning Report signalled the election campaign has well and truly begun, with Willis also saying Peters was “mischief-making”.
She went on to say that Labour was “choosing to get into bed with the party that referred to Indians choosing to come to New Zealand as a ‘butter chicken tsunami'”.
Willis’ comments were on the weekly Morning Report political panel alongside Labour’s Tangi Utikere, who she accused of being in a party that was “courting exactly the same concerns that New Zealand First are trying to whip up” in regards to the New Zealand-India free trade agreement.
New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones earlier this week made comments in a video that had been circulating online that his party would never accept the FTA and the “unfettered immigration” it would bring.
“I don’t care how much criticism we get. I am just never going to agree with a butter chicken tsunami coming to New Zealand,” Jones said.
Picking up on those comments on Wednesday morning, Utikere fired back at Willis saying Labour had “called that out as blatant racism”.
This all came after Luxon took the extraordinary move of calling a motion of confidence in himself at Tuesday’s caucus meeting, following intense media speculation about his position.
While he was successful, the prime minister refused to take questions about it afterwards or say if it was unanimous.
Asked on Morning Report if he should have been warned ahead of the vote, NZ First leader, Winston Peters, said: “It would have been wise to yes, of course.”
“In plain ambit of human relations and cooperation, the answer is of course, yes.”
Peters, whose parliamentary career began in the 1970s, said it was an “unprecedented” move from a sitting prime minister, and not one he supported.
“Because you see, you can tell when the next one’s going to happen. Not initiated by himself, but by others, and just wait for the next round of polls. And that’s the sad thing.
“I mean, this is unprecedented… there are going to be consequences. They’re seriously predictable consequences. But what I was astonished by was that they didn’t seem to understand, sadly, what they were doing. And here we are, part of the coalition, where stability of government all the way to the 2026 election and beyond is the critical component. And this is not helpful.”
Asked if he was essentially telling the National Party – which unlike NZ First, has been sliding in the polls – to get its act together, Peters said: “Well, you’ve phrased it that way, but I don’t disagree with you.”
Peters said a leadership spill would not have voided the NZ First-National coalition agreement, but that it would need to be “reshaped” – and warned National MPs against trying it again.
“You don’t sit here with all your responsibilities without looking at possible scenarios playing out and looking at every alternative. And if it’s like an octopus, the decision-making conclusion’s like an octopus with eight legs – you better understand all eight possible legs, not just three of them, five of them… You’ve got too many people with too little experience giving their views about what the outcome should be. That’s tragic.
“And I can go back to a former time when leadership lasted far longer because parties realised, ‘Hang on, we’ve got to this point, we have to stay solid with our first decisions rather than changing like a yo-yo,’ which you’ve seen in New Zealand in recent times.”
Peters said it was important the government get back to the basics of governing “as fast as possible”.
“Our job is to provide stability for the New Zealand people who are fighting petrol price rises, fuel price, supermarket, power pricing. That’s what New Zealanders are concerned about.”
National MP Joseph Mooney says he will be making a complaint to the Media Council about an “outrageous breach of journalistic standards” by Newstalk ZB’s flagship host, Mike Hosking.
On Monday the prime minister in his weekly interview told Hosking there were five MPs in the caucus he believed to be moaning to the media, and the following day Hosking named who he believed those MPs to be, including Mooney.
On Wednesday Mooney took to social media to say he hadn’t leaked “nor do I know anyone else who did”.
“Beware of radio jocks seeking relevance who claim ‘impeccable sources’ and rush out scurrilous claims on national media – without even bothering to approach me or anyone else to ask for comment before doing so. Not even an attempt at ‘balance’.
“I am going to be making a complaint to the Media Council about this outrageous breach of journalistic standards.”
“I dare Mr Hosking to name his impeccable source – because I know for a fact that ‘he’ is full of it.”
National deputy leader and Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Morning Report while she did not know who voted for or against Luxon, the vibe was that the vote was emphatic.
“I was in the room and the caucus was extremely clear that what we want to do is focus on serving New Zealanders, that we have no time for anonymous mentions in the media leading to speculation.
“The prime minister himself called for a vote of confidence to affirm that support for his leadership. The result was very clear. It was by majority. and we have a very firm caucus position, which is once the caucus takes a position, we all back it 100 percent, one for all, all for one.
“We don’t know the result of the vote. We never do. That’s not how we do things in the National Party. I was in the room and I think there was extremely strong support for that motion.”
Asked how she could know for sure the vote for Luxon was strong, Willis said: “I know a lot more about it than you do. You weren’t in the room.”
Asked about Peters’ comments earlier, Willis said he was “mischief-making” and suggested a vote for NZ First was possibly a vote for a Labour-led government.
“Winston Peters has a track record of picking Labour over National, and that’s the risk you run with him.”
Peters, originally a National MP, since forming NZ First has sided with National twice (1996 and 2023, both formal coalitions) and Labour twice (2005 as part of a confidence-and-supply agreement and 2017 in a formal coalition).
Labour’s Tangi Utikere said the vote was “classic” National Party stuff: “infighting amongst themselves, weak leadership from Prime Minister Chris Hipkins – not Chris Hipkins, he’s going to be the next prime minister, but Christopher Luxon over this issue, really, really disappointing”.
“And people expect, actually, the government to be focusing on the issues that really matter to them – jobs, health, homes, real action on the cost of living in an affordable New Zealand, rather than squabbling amongst themselves in what is clearly a circus at the moment.”
