A majority of New Zealand voters believe Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should remove Winston Peters from his role as Foreign Minister following controversial remarks directed at Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan, a new Stuff Pulse of the Nation poll has found.
The survey, conducted by Stuff in partnership with Ideally, found 54% of respondents believed Peters should be dismissed from the foreign affairs portfolio. Only 29% supported him remaining in the role, while 17% were undecided.
According to Stuff, the snap poll was conducted on Thursday, one week after Peters made the remarks in Parliament and amid continued criticism of Luxon's decision to retain confidence in his coalition partner.
Peters sparked controversy during a parliamentary debate when he told Xu-Nan to “go back to your own country” while responding to what he described as heckling, Stuff has quoted.
Xu-Nan was born in Tianjin, China, and moved to New Zealand with his family in 1997 at the age of seven. He has lived in New Zealand for almost all of his life, as reported by Stuff.
Peters later defended his comments when questioned by reporters, saying: “He’s only been here for five minutes and can’t even speak the language properly. And he thinks he knows everything,” Stuff has quoted.
The remarks were condemned by MPs from across Parliament, while Peters has repeatedly refused to apologise.
Asked whether he would apologise, Peters said: “I'm not apologising for that, most certainly not,” as quoted by Stuff.
Luxon has described Peters' comments as “racist” and “offensive” and said the Foreign Minister should apologise. However, the Prime Minister has stopped short of demanding that Peters leave his ministerial position, Stuff has reported.
The controversy has centred on Luxon's continued confidence in Peters despite the remarks.
Luxon has argued that Peters made the comments in his capacity as NZ First leader rather than as Foreign Minister. However, Peters has maintained that he stands by the remarks in both roles.
During Parliament on Wednesday, Xu-Nan directly asked Peters whether he stood by his statements.
“I stand by all my comments as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I also stand by my comments as the New Zealand First Party leader,” Peters said, as quoted by Stuff.
Luxon has continued to defend Peters' ability to represent New Zealand internationally.
“The foreign minister has outstanding relationships with his counterparts in China and around the world,” Luxon said, Stuff has quoted.
He also reiterated his criticism of Peters' behaviour.
“The remarks are offensive; I’ve been clear about my views on the conduct, and I’ve spoken to the Minister about it. My view is that we are 90 days away from an election,” he said, as quoted by Stuff.
According to Stuff, removing Peters from the Foreign Affairs portfolio could create significant political uncertainty for the coalition Government, with NZ First's support essential to Luxon's Government remaining in power ahead of the election.
However, Luxon has denied that coalition stability is the reason he has chosen to retain Peters as Foreign Minister, as reported by Stuff.
The poll found that younger voters were particularly supportive of removing Peters from the role. Voters aged 65 and over were the only age group in which support for Peters remaining Foreign Minister outweighed support for his dismissal, Stuff has reported.
The Stuff Pulse of the Nation survey has a margin of error of 4.3%. Ideally collected responses from 534 adults through established online research panels, as reported by Stuff.
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