{"id":290094,"date":"2026-02-18T15:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/290094\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T15:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:15:08","slug":"chris-hipkins-accuses-winston-peters-of-pure-racism-in-parliament-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/290094\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Hipkins accuses Winston Peters of \u2018pure racism\u2019 in Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

It prompted Peters to interrupt:<\/a> \u201cWhy is [the minister] answering a question from someone who comes from Rarotonga to a country called New Zealand…\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChrisChris Hipkins urged National ministers to challenge racism, criticising their silence on Winston Peters’ remarks. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

Speaker Gerry Brownlee cut him off to object to noise from other MPs in the debating chamber.<\/p>\n

Hipkins then leapt to his feet: \u201cMembers in this House are equal. For a member of the House to stand up and question whether someone is entitled to ask a question because of their country of origin is pure racism, and you should\u2019ve stopped him in the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brownlee said he did not hear Peters\u2019 remark, but would review the transcription later.<\/p>\n

Peters then completed his question, asking why somebody from Rarotonga had decided \u201cwithout any consultation with the New Zealand people\u201d to change the country\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

In response, Brownlee said that was \u201cnot an acceptable question at all\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"GerryGerry Brownlee ruled Winston Peters’ personalised question was unacceptable. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

\u201cI want that to be the last time that those sort of questions are directed so personally at members of this House,\u201d Brownlee said.<\/p>\n

Tuiono has M\u0101ori and Cook Islands M\u0101ori heritage but was born in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

In a speech to Parliament shortly afterwards, Hipkins decried an \u201cugly side to New Zealand politics\u201d, calling out \u201coutright race-baiting\u201d and \u201cdirect racism\u201d being expressed in the debating chamber.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttacks on our Chinese and Asian communities in New Zealand, attacks on our Indian communities in New Zealand, and just today, attacks on whether those who have Pasifika heritage are entitled to ask questions in this House.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what have we heard from the Government side on those attacks? Absolutely nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hipkins said National ministers needed to \u201ccombat and challenge that racism\u201d during this year\u2019s election campaign, saying it was \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d for them to \u201csay nothing and do nothing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are quite happy to stand by while members of their own Government attack our Chinese community, our Indian community, our Pasifika community, migrants to New Zealand who work damn hard and contribute to New Zealand, and it\u2019s an absolute disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hipkins said Government ministers should celebrate diversity and not cast aspersions on it.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters later, Hipkins said Peters\u2019 behaviour \u201chad no place in Government and Parliament\u201d \u2013 but he still would not say whether Labour would be prepared to work with NZ First after the election.<\/p>\n

\"LabourLabour leader Chris Hipkins says Peters’ comments in the House were “pure racism”. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to make judgments about those things closer to the election, but I\u2019ll call out bad behaviour when I see it.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Addressing reporters outside Parliament, Tuiono said Peters was using \u201cculture wars\u201d to distract from the real harm he was causing New Zealanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like [Donald] Trump, he\u2019s not very good with geography,\u201d he said. \u201cHe just needs to get an atlas. A bilingual one preferably.\u201d<\/p>\n

His Green colleague Ricardo Men\u00e9ndez March said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had failed to show leadership by allowing Peters \u2013 \u201ca Temu Trump\u201d \u2013 to spread anti-migrant sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s migrant scapegoating… it emboldens people outside of these four walls who wish to cause harm on our migrant communities,\u201d Men\u00e9ndez March said.<\/p>\n

Speaking afterwards, Act leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said he would never make such comments but would leave others to judge them for themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I like those comments? No. Would I make those comments? No. But I think if we all go on a 2019-style witch-hunt, we\u2019re actually just fuelling it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we all get ourselves in a lather, giving them the attention that they want, then that\u2019s just as bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Peters told reporters Hipkins was talking \u201cutter nonsense\u201d and he did not care about Seymour\u2019s views.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can somebody from another country who\u2019s come to New Zealand decide to change my country\u2019s name?\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n

When told that Tuiono was born in New Zealand, Peters said, regardless, the Green MP claimed to be a \u201cCook Islander\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never go to the Cook Islands and start changing their name, would I?\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters said he was regularly being \u201cliterally mobbed\u201d by New Zealanders on matters like the use of the word Aotearoa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not indulging fools here. Let me tell you something: stand back and watch the polls go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It prompted Peters to interrupt: \u201cWhy is [the minister] answering a question from someone who comes from Rarotonga…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[123609,3276,6650,13480,78,26478,111,43,139,69,1118,24637,6729,56719,42120,6728],"class_list":{"0":"post-290094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-accuses","9":"tag-chris","10":"tag-craig","11":"tag-hipkins","12":"tag-in","13":"tag-mcculloch","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-of","19":"tag-parliament","20":"tag-peters","21":"tag-pure","22":"tag-racism","23":"tag-winston"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}