Go Back to the Mat

Te Pāti Māori really aren’t that smart. They keep starting fights with Winston Peters and bizarrely attacking him as a racist. This is ironic given their own violent and racist rhetoric.

Now the fools are complaining to the Speaker.

Te Pāti Māori has written to the Speaker to demand “swift and uncompromising action” following what they call an “abhorrent outburst” from Winston Peters in the House.

The political party wants the New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister censured and forced to make a public apology. It also wants Speaker Gerry Brownlee to make it clear that “bigotry will not be given a platform in the House”.

“This is not just about one comment – it’s about defending the dignity of our language, our culture, and our tamariki against those who seek to diminish them.”

Peters was travelling to Thailand in his capacity as Foreign Affairs Minister on Friday, but he sent the Herald a response to Te Pāti Māori’s letter: “They have been so seduced by their own unrightful acquisition of power they cannot tolerate anyone challenging their unrifled use of it.”

He also posted on X (formerly Twitter) saying Te Pāti Māori’s claims were hypocritical and the party was a “bunch of coward bully boys”.

NZ Herald

And what is this all about?

Te Pāti Māori’s letter spins out of an incident in the House on Wednesday amid questioning from Labour’s Labour’s [sic] Willow-Jean Prime to Education Minister Erica Stanford about cuts to Te Ahu o te Reo Māori - a te reo Māori course.

Prime repeatedly interjected during an answer from Stanford, which appeared to lead Peters to stand and say: “Would students at te reo Māori lessons learn more if they kept their mouth shut while the teacher was talking?”

While Peters’ question seemed to be intended as a comment on Prime’s interjections, Te Pāti Māori’s Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi appeared to take offence, questioning how young Māori students may feel about the remark.

Really? That’s it?

I would’ve thought that the obvious answer to Winston’s question was “yes”.

This is low rat cunning from Winston; he’s basically saying to TPM ‘go back to the mat’... and demeaning them in a way they can’t understand.

Contrary to popular belief, no one connected to NZ First paid Te Pāti Māori to write their inane letter.

TPM really are the political retards of this parliament. Winston is just poking the snakes running rampant in their heads and showing that he’s the mongoose that will deal with them.

This is just basic politics and we are seeing a master class in political tweaking.

Expect Winston Peters to continue doing this all the way to the election, while Shane Jones does the same to the Greens. This is political-tag teamwork and, judging by the recent polls, it is working.