Shane Jones' colleagues have weighed in on his 'butter chicken tsunami' remark, with David Seymour labelling them "lame dad jokes" and a National MP saying they're racist.
By Lauren Crimp of RNZ
The New Zealand first deputy made the comments about the India Free Trade Agreement - which his party opposes - saying he would not agree with a "butter chicken tsunami" coming to New Zealand.
National's Carlos Cheung, who is the MP for Mount Roskill said the comments were racist, and some of the diverse community he represents are not happy.
"Any racist comment is unacceptable, especially myself as a migrant ... I feel that more than the others [MPs]," he said.
"I feel that it is racist, this is why we want to stand by my Indian community ... my migrant community."
Asked how he felt about his senior leaders not calling out the comments as racist, Cheung said different people had different feelings about it.
ACT leader David Seymour said Jones' comments were "really lame dad jokes".
"He's got to improve his form, because if we have six months of this in the election, it's going to get very groany," he said.
Seymour said immigration was a legitimate policy debate, but ridiculing a group of people on the basis of their food choices did not add anything.
"As one of our Indian members has said in the ACT party, 'half of us are vegetarian anyway'. Second of all, we thought that butter chicken was an English dish, why does Shane Jones hate the English?"
In the House on Wednesday, ACT MP and member of the Indian community Parmjeet Parmar said 'butter chicken tsunami' was a slogan to stir fear and grab attention.
She said many migrants worked in roles like stocking shelves at supermarkets.
Without them, she said, "it will not only be ... butter chicken missing from peoples' dining tables, there will be no hāngi at community events, there will be no bacon and eggs for breakfast."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Wednesday said Jones' comments were unacceptable, but he did not call them racist.
"What I actually want to see is a tsunami of kiwifruit going to India," he said.
His deputy Nicola Willis said a number of New Zealanders would feel Jones' comment was racist, but also did not use that word herself.
"I found them derogatory, I found them offensive," she said.
"I think it is wrong to use that kind of a phrase to describe a group of people in New Zealand who are our citizens, who are our residents, who are our workers, and I completely disagree with that approach, and I've made that clear to Mr Jones."
Earlier this week Shane Jones said he uses hyperbole to get cut through on debates, and he would tone it down after fellow MPs asked him to.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters put questions to trade minister Todd McClay during Question Time in the House on Wednesday, pointing out what issues he saw with the agreement, and questioning why National was continuing with it.
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