Good on ya Phil Goff for giving the most accurate description yet of Winston Peters’ ridiculous position on the FTA.
I’m inclined to agree with those who point out who absurd and stupid it is to have a foreign minister who has said he will criticise one of the government’s key foreign policy achievements when he travels around the world. Apparently he’s said he’d even tell the Chinese commerce minister what he thinks of the FTA New Zealand and China just signed. I don’t see how this is tenable.
Perhaps it’s time for Labour and National to cooperate to get rid of Peters? I dunno, form a Grand Coalition to get the government through ratifying the agreement and passing the enabling legislation before the election? Or at least, National pulling a Green and giving its support on confidence and supply at least until the enabling legislation is passed and the FTA in effect?
Trouble is, of course, that getting rid of Peters means he’ll play the martyr card along with the race/yellow peril card, and that will be enough to get him over the 5% threshhold and back into parliament. That will be enough because I see no reason to hope the other parties will find a way of undercutting his credibility with the “blue rinse brigade” and the other assorted xenophobes dumb enough to believe New Zealand ever was a nice little slice of England in the South Pacific. They haven’t so far.
