Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has pondered whether the coalition could "last much beyond the Budget" amid a clash between Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and NZ First leader Winston Peters.
Her comments came after Luxon and Peters held talks over the release of emails about New Zealand's stance on the US-Israeli bombing of Iran.
The emails, released to the NZ Herald, showed that Luxon wanted to move the Government's position to showing "explicit public support" for the US.
The Prime Minister's office, however, said the emails only showed Peters' office's characterisation of the Prime Minister's views and not that of Luxon himself.
The emails said Foreign Minister Peters preferred to walk "the careful line" of "neither condemns nor gives explicit support to the US action".
Following the meeting last night, Luxon said Peters "acknowledged he had made a mistake" by releasing the emails to the media. The emails were written within days of the US-Israel war in Iran starting in late February.
Luxon's office has also claimed that it was not consulted by Peters' before the emails were released.
On Breakfast this morning, Clark was asked about the political implications of the emails' release. She said the meeting between the two leaders showed "this was very serious for the cohesion of the coalition".
"Which is under strain, clearly," she said.
Clark said National and NZ First were "after each other's votes" and "eating each other".
"That’s not a great position for coalition partners to be in, in the run-up to an election. It almost makes you wonder whether this can last much beyond the Budget.
“If things get very, very toxic, they can collapse early.”
It's the second back-and-forth between the coalition partners in as many weeks. Peters condemned Luxon calling a confidence vote on himself last week, calling it a "very bad move that would have "consequences". In response, Luxon and his party accused Peters of making mischief with the comments. Peters also said he should have been told the vote was happening.
In a statement about the recent meeting between the leaders, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said these "these discussions to the media clearly put politics ahead of the national interest".
"The PM would expect Mr Peters to show better judgment after more than 40 years in politics. The PM met with Mr Peters this evening to make that point, and Mr Peters acknowledged he made a mistake.”
Clark said Peters releasing the emails could have either been a “genuine mistake” by Peters' office, or a decision “to let the material go and see how it played out”.
“It does seem curious that it would be a mistake, but I’m giving everyone the benefit of the doubt here.”
She believed public interest was "always in knowing what actually went on". "And now we know," she said.
“We know there was a fundamental difference of opinion – it’s fully exposed. So I think it was in the public interest to be released in full.
'The full, unvarnished truth'
Clark described the situation between Luxon and Peters as an “absolutely stunning story”.
She said if New Zealand had publicly supported the bombings, it would have caused “absolute public outrage”.
When fighting broke out, Clark condemned the attacks by the US and Israel, and labelled New Zealand's response at the time as a "disgrace".
In a joint statement on March 1, Luxon and Peters did not expressly condemn the attacks. Instead, they called for the "resumption of negotiations and adherence to international law". They also condemned Iran's nuclear programme and oppressive regime, which had just massacred thousands of civilians who took to the streets in protest.
Clark said Peters' stance on the war did not surprise her, discussing how in 2003, the then-National opposition condemned her Government for not supporting the US-led invasion of Iraq.
“Winston Peters never did that. He did not support the intervention, the invasion of Iraq.
“I almost wonder whether he might have wanted to be more explicit in not supporting it.”
'Mischaracterise'
Following the release of the emails, Luxon's office said they "mischaracterise" the Prime Minister's position.
"As you’d expect, it is the PM’s job to always challenge the advice he receives and, in this case, he sought to test New Zealand’s position against that of Canada and Australia. The public statements made by the Government reflect the PM’s position. If they didn’t, they would not have been made," the spokesperson said.
Clark said it was interesting that, since making their comments, the war has dragged on, and countries like Canada and Australia have begun to “walk back” their initial support for the US' actions.
“So, had New Zealand been foolish enough to come out in support of the bombing of Iran, we would now be doing the same kind of sideways step to get of the hook of this quagmire in the Middle East again,” Clark said.
The war in Iran and Israel's campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon has killed thousands. Dozens have been killed by retaliatory strikes in Israel, with casualties in the wider Gulf region also. Global energy markets have been thrown into chaos, with Iran's ability to close the vital Strait of Hormuz disrupting supply lines, sending oil prices skyrocketing and impacting the wider economy.
Talks between the US and Iran to end the conflict are at a stalemate.
'How the sausage gets made'
Chris Bishop and Kieran McAnulty discuss the latest saga to rock National-NZ First relations. (Source: Breakfast)
Senior minister and National MP Chris Bishop also responded to the clash this morning, saying it was “unusual” for emails of that nature, especially ones about foreign policy, to be released to the public.
“Clearly, the release of these emails, basically internal emails inside the Government, was the wrong thing to do," he told Breakfast.
“Basically, what the public is seeing here is a bit of how the sausage gets made.
“When you come up with a position on anything inside government, there’s backwards and forwards, there’s debate, there’s testing of positions.
“That’s completely natural.”
He said the public doesn’t normally see that process, because those conversations took place “behind closed doors”.
Bishop said it was clear Peters had made a "mistake".
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