Peters noted with just 3% of the party vote, 5 ouf o 6 people with Maori ancestry rejected Te Pati Maori.
Winston Peters took the opportunity in Parliament to lambast Te Pati Maori for claiming to be what ‘they were not – the voice of Maori’.
In a fiery speech Peters said he took his inspiration from a previous generation of Maori leaders, ‘political geniuses like Sir Peter Buck, Sir Apirana Ngata, Sir Maui Pomare, Sir James Carroll and Dame Whina Cooper, before mocking Te Pati Maori co-leader Rawiri Waititi for ‘being so de-colonised he wears a cowboy hat.’ He also took a dig at Waititi’s face tattoo saying that ‘where I come from it’s [ie ta moko] is conferred upon you – you don’t just go paint yourself like some tattoo shop.’
He also questioned how and why Te Pati Maori received $350,000 from a charity. The Deputy PM did not elaborate other than to say, ‘there’ll be somebody knocking soon, believe me, and the same law will apply to them as applies to every other political party.’
‘New Zealand’
Peters reaffirmed his commitment a return of the country’s name to ‘New Zealand’, claiming use of the name ‘Aotearoa’ was an insult to South Island Maori, and was of French Polynesian, not Maori, origin. Any change in the name had to be put first to the New Zealand people, by way of referendum, he said.
WATCH: Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters excoriates the Maori Party in his first speech back in Parliament – basically calling them a bunch of woke poseurs who are “all talk, no action.” pic.twitter.com/lxfUxgqG2z
— William McGimpsey (@TheZeitgeistNZ) December 6, 2023
Good to see Winston is focused on the important things like the health data!
Cmon Winston, is it all just for the baubles? Or, are you a man of your word
Fantastic speech Winston exposing the bshit of the maooreee or vanilla maooreee as davis disgustingly called another member in the wasps nest, theyare only interested in the money in typical tauiwi fashion! Willie earnt how much from the plandemic???? they allowed their own people to be locked out of their marae for making their own medical decisions, they are NOT maooreee and did not and will not work for maooreee. Loved the cowboy hat reference absolutely superb. I questioned ngawera-packer about the forcing of jabs on her people, she wouldn’t discuss it at all – piss off maori party and all the so called maooreee politicians AND any other maoooree that thinks what labour were doing was for the good of tangata whenua, they were setting you all up for a mighty big fall – good riddance to bad rubbish!
Certainly looks like the gravy train for those Iwi leaders that supported Jabby and Labour is about to come to an abrupt halt. And about time. Winston I hope, on behalf of Maori and all Kiwis who have been trampled by this travesty, you will stay the course. Godspeed…