Bob Carr to sue NZ foreign minister for calling him a ‘Chinese puppet’

Bob Carr says he will sue New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters for defamation after Peters accused the former foreign minister of being a Chinese puppet.

New Zealand’s Labour opposition has called for Peters to be stood down over the comments, accusing him of embarrassing the country.

Bob Carr says he will sue New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters over the comments.Credit: SMH

The fracas was triggered by remarks in which Carr colourfully criticised the AUKUS pact during a visit to New Zealand last month, describing the technology-sharing element of the partnership as “fragrant, methane-wrapped bullshit”.

“Why do I call it bullshit? Because it’s been cobbled together to make it look like there’s more to AUKUS than subs – there isn’t.”

An increasingly partisan debate has erupted in New Zealand about whether the country should seek to join pillar II of the AUKUS pact, which offers collaboration on advanced technologies such as hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

In a fiery radio interview on Thursday, Peters, who serves as New Zealand’s foreign minister, lashed out at Carr, describing him as “nothing more than a Chinese puppet”.

“What on earth does he think he’s doing walking into our country and telling us what to do?” Peters told Radio New Zealand. “We would no more do that in Australia than he should do here. That’s the kind of arrogance we don’t like.”

Other comments in which Peters stridently criticised Carr for his views on China have since been removed from the radio station’s website because of their legal risk.

Carr, who served as director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney from 2014 to 2019, said he would sue Peters for defamation over the comments.

“The lawyers are finishing the letter,” the former NSW premier told this masthead.

Carr said he had made valid criticisms of AUKUS during his New Zealand visit as well as speaking out against China’s aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea and its treatment of minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang.

New Zealand Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins, who served as prime minister after Jacinda Ardern’s resignation, said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should stand Peters down immediately because of the comments.

“These sorts of allegations by a foreign affairs minister are unacceptable,” Hipkins said.

“They cannot be left unchallenged. Winston Peters cannot execute his duties as foreign affairs minister while he has this hanging over him.”

Accusing Peters of stepping outside his brief, Hipkins said: “He’s embarrassed the country. He’s created legal risk to the New Zealand government because he has made these comments as our minister of foreign affairs and the prime minister must do something about that.”

Luxon distanced himself from Peters’ remarks but indicated he would stand by his deputy.

“Look, they’re not comments I would make,” he told a press conference on Thursday.

“I’m sure Bob Carr, as a seasoned politician, understands the rough and tumble of politics.”

Peters, who has led the populist and socially conservative New Zealand First party since 1993, helped Luxon’s centre-right National Party form a coalition government last November.

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