A Green MP told by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters to "go back to your own country" in the House yesterday says the leader was "scapegoating" migrant communities as a distraction from the bigger political picture.
Yesterday during a speech in the House of Parliament, Peters responded to heckling by saying to Lawrence Xu-Nan: "I know you just came here five minutes ago. Go back to your own country."
"That's where they lie like a flatfish, but they don't lie like that here, all right? This is called democracy. This is called democracy, unlike what you're used to," Peters said.
Xu-Nan was born in Tianjin, China and has lived in New Zealand since the mid-90s.
The outburst followed recent "racist" and "crass" comments by fellow senior NZ First MP Shanes Jones, and sexist comments made by Napier candidate Stuart Nash which saw him quit.
Speaking to Breakfast, Xu-Nan said it was "really telling when this is someone's desperate attempt to distract the New Zealand public from the real harm that this government is doing".
"It's a little bit unbelievable to have a Minister for Foreign Affairs, I guess, scapegoating the migrant communities as a distraction to shift the blame away from all of the harm that this government is doing.
"What we want to see is Prime Minister Christopher Luxon actually stepping up and holding his ministers accountable for their behavioural patterns. But so far, we have seen the Prime Minister unwilling to address some of that," he added.
Xu-Nan said "New Zealand, in essence, is a welcoming place, and people care for each other".
"I think what we have seen is a sort of imported culture wars where we are looking at exploring the differences again as a distraction, as opposed to looking at the similarities that unite us and joins us together.
"We've seen not just the migrant communities, but all communities here in Aotearoa, New Zealand, doing it really hard these last few years."
"What is really important for I think New Zealanders to remember is the aroha that we do have for each other to address the broader issues like affordable living that we're seeing right now. And this is one of the things that the Green Party is campaigning on this this year, going into the election, is what New Zealanders really want."
Senior National MP Chris Bishop said Peters' comments were "seriously regrettable".
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