PM Will Not Step In Over Peters’ Comments In RNZ Interview

Soumya
Bhamidipati, in London
Morning
Report

The Prime Minister says he will
not intervene over comments by Deputy Prime Minister Winston
Peters about RNZ’s funding.

Speaking in London,
Christopher Luxon said he was aware of but had not listened
to the fiery Morning Report interview in which the
acting prime minister accused
the public broadcaster of being biased and seemingly
threatened to cut its funding.

Peters objected to
questioning over his party’s proposal to define the term
“woman” as “an adult human biological female” and “man” as
an “adult human biological male” across all
laws.

Towards the end of the interview, he accused the
broadcaster of running the line of his opponents: “You’re
paid for by the taxpayer and sooner or later we’re going to
cut that water off too, because you’re an abuse on the
taxpayer”.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins called
for Luxon to step in, saying the comments were
unacceptable.

But Luxon said he had no intention
of doing so.

“Probably words that I wouldn’t use, but
frankly, I think Winston Peters, after 40 years in public
service, and his mode of communication is well
understood.

“I just don’t think it would be any
surprise … he has a rather Winston way of communicating
with media where he’s going to push back on journalists, as
is his right to do so.

“With respect to the funding of
RNZ, that is a decision taken by Cabinet as part of a Budget
process each and every year and it’s the same process
here.”

Luxon did not directly answer questions about
whether the remarks were appropriate for an acting prime
minister to make, or whether it was proper for Peters to
threaten funding cuts even if the decision did not lie with
him.

‘Useless and unnecessary’

Green Party
co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the Deputy Prime Minister
has lost sight of the real issues such as the health system
and climate change in favour of an imported culture war over
NZ First’s plans for a private member’s bill on defining a
man and a woman.

“I would say it’s about as useless
and unnecessary as New Zealand First’s frequently reproposed
bill to make English an official language but this one
paints a target on the back of minority groups and therefore
it is unfortunately dangerous.”

Defining a man and a
woman was not “a real problem” for the country, she told
Morning Report on Thursday.

It was “deeply
misogynistic” to reduce women to their reproductive capacity
or their private parts, she said.

However, she pointed
to the Counting Ourselves report, which was released
in February, and covered the views of 2500 trans and
non-binary people.

“We can see very clearly right now
immediate and pressing issues with regard to the exclusion,
the harm and the hatred they’re subjected to, whereby 77
percent of them have experienced high or very high
psychological distress in the last year.”

Swarbrick
said the UK Supreme Court decision which defined a woman and
a man was actually mainly about Diversity Equity and
Inclusion (DEI) policies which were not supported by
Peters.

“This is an utterly cynical playbook whereby
we are seeing New Zealand First rinsing the biscuit tin with
the latest outrage.”

She pointed to other similar
bills NZ First had supported such as “the woke banks bill,”
DEI and use of bathrooms.

If the government cared
about women it would be providing better funding in areas
such as women’s health care and early childhood education,
fixing the pay gap, and paying for programmes to stop
violence against women, she said.

It was also
“astounding” Peters had used science as part of his argument
for defining a man and a woman, yet he did not rely on
science when it came to climate change.

‘A form of
censorship’ – Labour

On Wednesday, Hipkins said it
was unacceptable for a minister to threaten an independent
media organisation’s funding because he objected to how he
was being interviewed.

“Ministers don’t have to
participate meekly in an interview. If they don’t like the
direction it’s going on, they’re absolutely entitled to push
back on an interviewer.

“But where I think Winston
Peters absolutely crosses a very bright line is where he
says, because I don’t like the way you were interviewing me,
we’re going to cut your funding.”

He said Luxon needed
to enforce the expected standards of his ministers and “at
the very least” make it clear to Peters that it should never
happen again.

“Threatening to cut funding is a form of
censorship. It is totally and utterly wrong.”

The
on-air clash

Peters’ on-air criticism came towards
the end of an interview after broadcaster Corin Dann raised
criticisms lodged by Labour and the Greens.

Peters
accused Dann of advancing the views of NZ First’s opponents
and said the question line was “so typical” of
RNZ.

“You’re not hearing both sides of the story, you
keep on putting the argument of the woke left… you’re a
disgrace to the mainstream media.”

Dann told Peters it
was his job to put up an argument.

“I’m sorry but
you’re not going to accuse me of putting up their arguments
and believing in them. I’m the devil’s advocate here and I
put up the argument for you to answer,” Dann said.

An
RNZ spokesperson said the organisation had a rigourous
editorial policy that demanded its work was always
underpinned by fairness, accuracy, independence, respect and
decency.

“This was a robust political interview where
our interviewer conducted himself in a professional manner,”
the spokesperson said in a statement.

“RNZ was
recently recognised as New Zealand’s most trusted news
brand. A result that is consistent with our own research
that shows trust in RNZ has increased over the last year and
a result that demonstrates our strategic focus on improving
trust.”

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