Jason Walls: Newstalk ZB political editor on Winston Peters accusing the Greens of being 'one-sided' on Middle East conflict

Winston Peters is accusing the Greens of being one sided on the Middle East conflict.

The Foreign Minister's official statement says it's not a 'black and white situation'.

Peters says proxies for Iran, including Hamas and Hezbollah, have killed so many.

Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jason Wall's used dogs be political editors with us A Jason,
good afternoon.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
So did the Greens and Winston have a bit of
a spat?

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Did they? No, they held hands and they hugged and
said that they were with the best. Of course they
had a spat. It wouldn't be Parliament with out those
two going loggerheads. It was quite an interesting one because
it started with a ministerial statement that Winston Peters gave
as Foreign Minister, and Winston started the proceedings. It was
quite pointed, I thought, have a listen.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
We prefer diplomacy to moral outrage. Indeed, ours is a
foreign policy of colletting all the facts, hearing all the perspectives,
and applying a careful, reasonable, cool headed approach to the situation,
not knee jerk reaction and simplistic moral posturing. Those in
this House who rush to condemn will call out one

(00:47):
actor or other, or who demand the government to do
the same, should plause to reflect on whether they are
seeking to understand and influence what's going on, or simply
virtue signal about it.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Now if you're wondering who he's talking about, it didn't
take too long for that mystery to be solved in
the House.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
The Green patty condemns the United States unlawful and aggressive
strikes on Iran, and we call on the government to
do the same.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
So with a topic like this, these two, as I said,
were always going to clash, and that's exactly what happened.
And it didn't take long for Winston to respond to
the way that Madame and Davison was speaking to him
in some of those questions.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
But I have to say, when it comes to the
proxies for Iran that have committed so much terrorism in
the loss of thousands of lives, harmas his bela, the
hoodies with respect to Iran, when it comes to that,
the Greens have been not a syllable lot of sound,
not a matter lot of murmur, no continents whatsoever.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
And so the Green leadership didn't like that. So they
went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth,
before Jerry Brownly had to step in.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yes, the Iran's people have been under forty years of
differents right on with superior that drag thanks five seekings
to examine it. Neither party here is running speak the
orum that you'd expect out of past size. But you're
not going to get her both sides to standing orders,
speakers rolling swe fifty one.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
So we have the government calling for a ceasefire between
Iran and Israel and Jerry Browne calling for a ceasefire
between the Greens and New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
First, has Chloe been throwing shade at Chris Luckson's travel agender?

Speaker 1 (02:24):
She has. I have a listened to what she called
it this morning. He him is presently offshore, swanning around,
swanning around. She reckons, this is the Prime minister who's
at NATO at the moment. You know, if there was
a place to be on planet Earth right now, I reckon,
it would probably be NATO if you're a global if
you're a world leader. Before that, he was with our
biggest trading partners, China, meeting at President shi Jingping, just

(02:46):
swatting around Old Chris Luxen. Yeah, I've been on dozens
of these trips with the Prime ministers. They don't sworn around.
They've got quite a packed agenda. And I'll tell you what,
Nikola Willis wasn't having a bar of her comments.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
I think the naive because it is absolutely essential for
New Zealanders that we are well represented on the world
stage and that involves person to person relationships with leaders.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Defense Minister Judith Collins wasn't impressed either.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Well, thank the Lord.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
I'm not responsible for the Greens and their utterances, but honestly,
the Prime Minister is absolutely flat out doing the same
sort of work at NATO.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
And going to visit our memorials there. I guess that's
what the Greens do when they're ever sees. So no
swaning around for these government ministers, not today.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
What was it that Chloe would rather he was doing.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
I don't know, maybe meander, maybe strutt, I don't know
which way that she thinks he should be walking.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Oh my goodness, I thank you very much, Jason appreciate it.
Jason Wall's Newstalks, DB's political editor. For more from Heather
Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to News Talk said Be
from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.