service. What it was good to hear is that the minister is committed to
strengthening the foreign service
so that we can get out there
and take our place in the world. Thank
you, Madam Chair.
Madam Chair.
I call Tim MacIndoe. Ordinarily the foreign ministers' appearance
at the foreign
foreign ministers' appearance at the committee meeting before this year
was considered the worst but
the another minister took that from him.
Nevertheless the rambling,
cantankerous presentation
cantankerous presentation was the worst performance I have
heard at that sort of event in my 10 years in
this house. He appeared
unfamiliar with the text of his
own introductory remark, which
he delivered in a
halting and incoherent fashion at times. He
became abusive when asked
legitimate questions on important topics for
which he should
have been better prepared. Although he has spent
25 years pretending to
put New Zealanders first he took a
long time arguing that a New Zealand
landlord, whose only mistake had been to
let her property to a foreign diplomat,
could not expect to be paid
the considerable sum she is owed in
unpaid rent because the diplomat
was protected by immunity. When
Todd McClay pointed out that
there are exceptions to that policy
his response was effectively, too bad,
that's the way it is. He then told
for this sort of advice but I'm giving it to you
Russell McVeagh lawyers! You are probably quite right. I'm sure
the landlord was deeply touched by
his humility and understanding. I
wasn't surprised that he chose to abuse
me and my National colleagues
as my line of questioning was asking
him to explain many flip flops but it
is noticeable that he managed to
insult all of our nation's teachers,
senator Penny Wong of Australia,
Fonterra and everyone
witnessing his performance. In May, following the
release of a compelling report Mr
Peters accepted international
condemnation of Russia
that surrounded the down of Malaysian
airlines flight MH17 that saw 298
innocent people killed. He did not
resile from his statement
during a TV3 interview two months earlier
that there was no evidence of
Russian involvement
Russian involvement in that atrocity, rather than admit
that he had been wrong in March,
which caused New
caused New Zealand international embarrassment at the time as
Senator Penny Wong had pointed out
from the other side of the Tasman, Mr Peters
was dismissive of
Senator Wong's qualifications and refused to
conceive that his earlier
station was so ill informed. He
spoke about the launch of New Zealand's trade
talks with the European Union, the
the imminent ratification of the pacer Plus agreement. He
made no mention of his enthusiasm of a trade
deal with Russia. I questioned
him about that. Rather than explain
why he had been so determined to see New
Zealand resume
Zealand resume negotiations towards a Free Trade Agreement with
Russia, which only he could have
been responsible for negotiating into the
current
current Government's coalition agreement, he chose to split
hairs in the usual fashion he adopts
when he find questions inconvenient. I
ask him again, what progress has he
and the Trade Minister
maid towards the resumption of free
trade negotiations with the customs union
of which rusha is the dominant
economy and does he believe that
our international allies and five eyes
partners support such a stance at
a time when there is so much concern
about Russia's foreign policies and
involvement in the Novichok
incident, the downing of MH17, the
chemical weapons outrages
perpetrated by Bashar
chemical weapons outrages
Syria, interference in the United States 2016 election. I asked why
the Government changed its original
press release on the Salisbury press
release that he denied happened but
I am holding here the two
versions that clearly show he misled the
committee with that
answer. Given the recent plusty about the deluded
and obnoxious individuals
banned recently from using an
Auckland Council venue to promote their
intentionally offensive
intentionally offensive attitudes, it
intentionally offensive attitudes, intentionally
intentionally offensive attitudes, it is interesting to note that a few
weeks ago supporters of
the Hezbollah
Hezbollah terrorist organisation were permitted to hold a rally to
promote their Semitic vie views
at that venue and no one expressed
any concern about this at all. My
colleague, Chris Penk, member
for Helensville asked him a
sincere and respectful supplementary question to
my questions on that to which Mr
Peters replied,
my questions on that to which Mr
what message he intended to send to the many New Zealanders and foreign
observers who share the
concern that Mr Penk and I have on this issue.
observers who share the concern that Mr Penk and I have on this issue. I
never cease to marvel that
parliament's oldest member is also
its most childish. I
call Louisa Wall. My recollection of our
estimates hearing and having
minister Winston Peters attend was
one where actually he needs huge
congratulations because if we look
at Vote Foreign affairs and Trade,