NZ First leader Winston Peters has announced his party’s plan to declare a “war on woke” during his State of the Nation speech which took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion policies — and the former Labour Government.
The speech was delivered at the James Hay Theatre in Christchurch where protesters also gathered outside with several causes: from each side of the greyhound racing ban, as well as those who were pro-Palestine and pro-Israel.
Peters called protesters “left-wing fascists” and “communist, fascist and anti-democratic losers”.
In all, around 10 people were removed from the event.
In his speech, Peters called to “make New Zealand first again” and proposed a “war on woke”, saying voters would “take back our country”.
“One of the most concerning and insidious cancers in our society today is the underlying creep of woke social engineering.
“This seeping of the leftist group-think and condoned by too many on the right, has been mostly hidden from society in the way it has implanted itself in New Zealand.”
Peters today also attacked the cost of New Zealand’s commitments under the Paris climate change accords.
“Why are we making a rod for our own backs; punishing our farmers and our taxpayers and our economy, when China or the US could sneeze and produce more CO2 overnight than we do in a year?”
Peters blamed the Labour Party for the state of the economy the coalition inherited, describing positive claims about the economy prior to the election as an “outright litany of lies”.
Labour’s claims were based on Treasury’s pre-election economic and fiscal update, known as PREFU.
“Within six months of that litany of lies, our country was suffering from the deepest and longest economic downturn and recessionary retraction for over three decades,” Peters said.
He compared Labour’s re-election strategy to “acting like a recently divorced partner, standing back and asking ‘don’t you miss me yet?'”
In response, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the NZ First leader was attempting to divert attention away from the Government’s mishandling of the economy.
“While Winston Peters was yelling at protesters and channeling Donald Trump, Labour is focused on what really matters: jobs, health, and homes. This coalition drove the economy into a recession, and now they’re trying to distract from the damage they’ve done with even more division.”
Hipkins added: “If Winston Peters really wanted to put New Zealanders first, he wouldn’t be propping up the most right-wing, pro-privatisation government this country has seen in over 30 years.”
