Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he should have ensured he and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon were "on the same wavelength" before his office released emails about New Zealand's stance on the US-Israeli bombing of Iran.
The two party leaders had a meeting last night, where Peters "acknowledged he made a mistake", according to the Prime Minister's office. Luxon's office said it was "surprised" by the release of the internal discussions to the media, and said it had not been consulted.
Before question time today, Peters was asked by reporters who in his office made the mistake, replying: "In the end, I made the mistake.
"A couple of my staff are going to be at a training session this afternoon on the matter," he said.
He described the situation as a "process mistake".
The former PM speaks about the clash between Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters. (Source: Breakfast)
“The assumption was that the Prime Minister’s office was doing the same thing. And we should have checked that first.”
Asked why his office made the determination that the emails did not meet Section 6 of the Official Information Act, which outlines reasons to withhold information, Peters called on his past experience.
"I’ve been around a long time, longer than anybody else here, and I can recall even under the Muldoon Government, with Jim McClay, the deputy Prime Minister at the time, and the view was ‘if it should be disclosed, disclose it if there’s no good reason not to’.
"“That’s the view I’ve always had myself, personally."
In a statement about the release of the emails, a spokesperson for Luxon said: "The decision to release these discussions to the media clearly put politics ahead of the national interest."
When asked whether he was putting politics ahead of national interests, Peters chuckled and said: “That’s yesterday’s story." He then walked away, into the chamber where he would face questions from MPs.
'Emails mischaracterise the PM’s position'
The emails, which were released to the NZ Herald and subsequently to 1News, showed Luxon had discussed moving the Government's position on the US and Israeli bombing of Iran to showing "explicit public support" for the US. Both Canada and Australia had made similar moves.
Meanwhile, Peters preferred to walk "the careful line" of "neither condemns nor gives explicit support to the US action".
In a statement, Luxon's office said the emails only showed Peter's office's characterisation of the Prime Minister's views, not Luxon's own.
“These emails mischaracterise the PM’s position," the statement said.
"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 the decision to release the 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.”
Chris Bishop and Kieran McAnulty discuss the latest saga to rock National-NZ First relations. (Source: Breakfast)
It was the second back-and-forth between the two leaders in recent weeks.
Last week, Peters condemned his coalition partner's decision to call a confidence vote on himself. Peters said this was a "very bad" move, believing it could have "consequences". He also said he should have been told that a leadership vote was happening.
Luxon and other members of the National Party accused Peters of mischief-making.
Peters today maintained that New Zealand's stance on the Iran conflict was the same as outlined in a March 1 statement.
In the 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 had taken to the streets in protest.
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