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NZ First frontman Winston Peters called TVNZ a “disgrace” during a heated interview with Jack Tame at the question-and-answer session on Sunday morning.
Peters accused the announcer of ambushing him with questions about information leaks and fraud investigations on live television.
“I’m sorry I came here this morning, to stop my campaign, to go see a young man who thinks he will play Billy the Kid,” he told Tame.
The deputy prime minister said he looked forward to talking about Covid-19 and the lost cattle export ship, and that he would have prepared answers to Tame’s questions had they been asked prior to his appearance on the TVNZ show.
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tvnz / Supplied
Winston Peters didn’t like the question line on TVNZ Q&A
The first few minutes of the interview go smoothly, until Tame raises a question Peters doesn’t want to answer.
“Was any New Zealand First MP, Staff Member or Associate responsible for leaking information regarding Green School funding?” Tame asks.
Peters hesitates: “Excuse me?”
Tame repeats the question. Peters is visibly angry.
“If you wanted to know the answer to that question, why didn’t you ask me last night or this morning and I could have gotten it for you?”
Tame, unfazed, repeats the question for the third time.
Peters tells the presenter that “without being cute” he should have sent him that question before the interview if he wanted to be answered.
“You are not a lawyer,” he told Tame. “Stop playing silly games, I’m telling you.”
During their heated discussion, he also referred to Tame as “James” five times.
“My name is Jack, Mr. Peters,” Tame corrected with a smile.
The tension between the two men increases from there.
Tame investigates Peters about the taxpayer-funded trip to Scott Base in Antarctica he organized for two of his friends.
“Don’t use the power of the state, paid for by the taxpayer, to try to disarm a political party … with a little old-fashioned dirt,” Peters said.
“If I wanted information on that, I could have given the answers to Gerry Brownlee and everyone who has asked in the last few months. But no, you thought you would come and kidnap me. “
Peters was also asked how much money New Zealand First had received from the horse racing industry in donations. The question arose in relation to the decision to spend $ 10.5 million on a horse racing track in Christchurch through the Provincial Growth Fund.
“You can keep talking for as long as you want,” Peters said. “But I think it’s a shame that a taxpayer-owned operation like TVNZ is behaving like this.”
The interview divided viewers. Some people thought the questioning was fair and others thought Peters shouldn’t have been put in danger. One person called it a “train wreck.”
Tame was adamant in her line of questions, saying that integrity is an essential issue for voters and that there would be people watching the show who wanted to know the answers.
The Serious Fraud Office is investigating an entity called the New Zealand First Foundation, which has funded Peters’ party.
Tame also asked Peters if he had been interviewed by the OFS and again, he declined to answer.
Peters challenged the idea that Tame’s questions were a matter of integrity.
“Why did you lie then?” He said. “You and your producer flatly lied about the subject of this show.”
He calmed down as the interview drew to a close and Tame returned to the subject of livestock exports to the Arabian Gulf.
Although, as Tame finished the show and thanked Peters for his appearance, he could be heard saying “OMG”.
