Winston Peters ‘very confused’ over handling of Iran war emails

Source: Radio New Zealand

Winston Peters is “very, very confused” over the handling of official information relating to the Iran war, National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis said.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters said it was a “process mistake”, while National said he was putting politics ahead of the country.

The Prime Minister’s office in a statement, said Peters had admitted to Christopher Luxon in a private meeting his mistake in releasing emails about the official stance on the United States’ attack on Iran.

Peters publicly acknowledged his error on Thursday afternoon.

“In the end, I made the mistake. We carry the can in our office, we don’t blame others, but funnily enough a couple of my staff are going to be in a training session this afternoon on the matter,” he told reporters.

The emails suggested Luxon had been considering expressing “explicit public support” for the US assault, but Peters’ office believed that would be “imprudent” and “counter to New Zealand’s national interests”.

In the end, the government’s stance walked a more cautious line with no explicit support for the US but Luxon said in a post-Cabinet briefing this was no different to Australia’s stance – which was more supportive -prompted further questions about what the official position was.

However, Luxon’s office had since issued a statement saying the email release mischaracterised Luxon’s view, and claiming his doing so without consulting the prime minister’s office “clearly put politics ahead of the national interest”.

His office said the prime minister’s job was to challenge advice he received and he was merely seeking to test New Zealand’s stance against those of Australia and Canada.

Peters said it was a “process mistake” – but pushed back on suggestions releasing the information was an error.

“The assumption was that the prime minister’s office were doing the same thing, and we should have checked that first,” he said.

“I’ve been around a long time, longer than anybody else here, and I can recall even under the Muldoon government… the view was if it should be disclosed, disclose it if there’s no good reason not to.

“If you can release it, release it… I’m simply just saying I should have made sure that the prime minister’s on the same wavelength.”

National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis said the emails should not have been released by Peters’ office.

“No. Under the no surprises policy you consult before you release emails. If consultation had occurred it may well have been the case that they were released – the problem here is that the coalition agreement sets out very clearly that we will act in good faith.

“He now seems very confused. Very, very confused. One minute it was a mistake, next minute it wasn’t a mistake. Now I understand it’s a mistake again – and the problem with Winston Peters is you never know what you’re going to get.”

That was a reference to Peters telling Pacific Media Network various parts of the reporting of the matter were wrong.

“The claim that it was in the prime minister’s office was wrong, I mean how can you get that fact wrong? And then there’s other parts about it that are seriously wrong as well.

“I was under the understanding that things that should have happened had not happened, and I found out this morning in my office that those things did happen. Now I’m not going to make a big song and dance about it – but the truth will out and I intend to make sure it does.

“I acknowledged that I’d made a mistake and I found out this morning that I didn’t make a mistake,” he had said, but soon was admitting his mistake to reporters at Parliament.

Willis said Peters’ actions were inconsistent with the no surprises principle and were not in good faith.

“This is the problem with Winston Peters. What’s to say he won’t have a bout of similar confusion in coalition talks?

“Judge him by his actions. This is the man who put Jacinda Ardern into the prime ministership,” she said. “He has said that he won’t support a Labour, Green, Te Pāti Māori government, what if he gets confused”.

She suggested Peters’ actions could put coalition stability at risk.

“It’s really important to him that we ensure strong, stable government. And as I’ve said the actions of Winston Peters’ office were inconsistent with achieving that, and the prime minister has a duty to serve New Zealanders and we cannot do that as an executive if some political parties are off pursuing political gamesmanship rather than the national interest,” she said.

“When you release emails that characterise someone else’s position you consult with them. This is how the Official Information Act works… that doesn’t mean you’re always happy about the results of the consultation but you consult.”

National’s campaign chairperson Simeon Brown said the coalition was in a good space “but ultimately our message is that Mr Peters should not be putting politics ahead of the national interest. That’s very clear”.

“He’s been in parliament longer than I’ve been alive and he should know better,” he said.

“It’s standard practice when it comes to these matters that there’s consultation between offices. That didn’t happen … he considers himself a statesman well the reality is he should operate in a way that respects the office of the prime minister.”

Brown said Luxon had been wanting to test the foreign ministry’s advice in relation to what the Australians and the Canadians were saying at the time, but “our position’s very clear, he’s made that position very clear, and it still stands”.

The third coalition partner, David Seymour, played down the dispute.

“The coalition has had a joined up and consistent approach throughout this, I know what you want to talk about but people have discussions behind closed doors before we come to a position. I’d be much more worried if there wasn’t a discussion,” he said.

He diverted from questions about Luxon wanting to express explicit support for the war.

“I think the most important thing that’s happening in New Zealand today as far as the government goes is anti-money laundering legislation … I don’t even understand what your question’s about, most people won’t understand it or care, but actually this government is fixing what matters.”

He said the reporting of the dispute was “one person’s view of another person’s view of something that happened months ago, and the government had a united support position on it.

“The situation has changed so much since that time it’s kind of academic. All I’d say is that Australia and Canada, two of our best friends, came out with a certain position. We tossed up that position, we ended up taking a more moderate one.”

Seymour dismissed questions about whose office the meeting between Peters and Luxon was in.

“I know that there are people who argue about who’s meeting in whose office on which floor. Look, sometimes I meet with people in their office, sometimes I go and meet with them, sometimes I’m technically higher ranked than them, sometimes they’re technically higher ranked than me – well technically it’s only one time – but you know, I don’t think that’s really what matters to most Kiwis.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand