testing New Zealand\u2019s position, which was to \u201cacknowledge\u201d the strikes<\/a> \u2013 against that of Australia and Canada, which had used the word \u201csupport\u201d.<\/p>\n\u201cI challenge the advice I receive,\u201d Luxon said. \u201cI\u2019m pro-New Zealand, not pro-US.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luxon said that ultimately, all public Government statements reflected his view and would not be issued otherwise: \u201cIt\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the Prime Minister of New Zealand,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s quite right that I test our position versus others … And what we came out with, I fully support. That\u2019s exactly what I believe … otherwise it wouldn\u2019t have been said.\u201d<\/p>\n
When releasing the documents to media, a spokesperson for Peters added that Luxon\u2019s suggested course of action had been \u201cimprudent\u201d and \u201ccounter to New Zealand\u2019s national interests\u201d.<\/p>\n
Peters has not retracted that remark, nor responded to the claims of mischaracterisation, though he has admitted it was a \u201cmistake\u201d not to consult Luxon before releasing the emails.<\/p>\n
RNZ lodged a request with Luxon\u2019s office for any documentation that might prove that Peters\u2019 office got the Prime Minister\u2019s position wrong.<\/p>\n
Asked directly whether he\u2019d release such evidence, Luxon said he had already laid out his version of events.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve really got nothing more to add.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luxon\u2019s Thursday statement also included his strongest criticism yet of Peters, questioning both his judgment and motives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision to release these discussions to the media clearly put politics ahead of the national interest,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Peters therefore remained fit for his role as Foreign Minister, Luxon repeatedly refused to engage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just not getting into it,\u201d Luxon told RNZ. \u201cI\u2019ve said everything I want to say about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But in his first media interview on the topic, Luxon denied that had been his \u201cpreference\u201d at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28119,1863,16426,2741,6650,27505,84246,49738,692,78,16427,26478,209434,185116,111,43,139,69,13692,16422,61,6736],"class_list":["post-406653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-amp","tag-back","tag-christopher","tag-claim","tag-craig","tag-declines","tag-emails","tag-evidence","tag-he","tag-in","tag-luxon","tag-mcculloch","tag-mischaracterised","tag-moir","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-offer","tag-pm","tag-to","tag-was"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406653","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=406653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}