A grinning Winston Peters has defended his actions after posting a picture of himself fishing from his home during the nationwide lockdown, saying "the whole world went upside down" because of it.
The Foreign Minister joined TVNZ1's Breakfast for a lengthy interview from his home in Whananaki this morning where he discussed many serious issues such as New Zealand's border restrictions, WHO funding and the election date.
But as the interview was wrapping up, TVNZ presenter Haydn Jones opted to give Mr Peters a cheeky jab, stating he looked "well-tanned and well-relaxed" after managing to "get some fishing in".
Jones was referencing Mr Peters' photo which he posted to social media on Sunday which featured him with a fishing rod with his horse on his property.
The photo sparked plenty of feedback with some Kiwis annoyed Mr Peters was disobeying the rules by fishing while others saw the light-hearted side of the Deputy Prime Minister's downtime.
Jones then asked Mr Peters if he could help run the country from his home to which he got a resounding "no, you can't!".
"This is a nightmare!" Mr Peters laughed.
"I haven't been fishing. I just went out to the front of my lawn and threw a casting line out into the water and the whole world went upside down.
"I was on my front lawn inside my own bubble - some of you have no sense of humour."
On a serious note, Mr Peters said it was "extraordinarily difficult" to perform his job from his home - a move made after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urged all people over 70 and those with compromised immunity to self-isolate as much as possible last month.
"I'm getting Zoom-mad," the 74-year-old said.
"But you've got to do what you've got to do because for a whole lot of people, things are much worse."
SHARE ME