February 01, 2017
Hold your tongue on Trump says Peters
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says New Zealand politicians should shut up about new president Donald Trump’s border control policies.
Prime Minister Bill English has been criticised for a muted response to President Trump’s 90-day entry ban for people from seven Muslim-majority countries entering the United States, while Labour leader Andrew Little came out strongly against it.
Mr Peters says politicians should be careful what they say, because the country’s economic future could be affected.
He says while the entry ban is a media obsession, it was well flagged by the new president.
"He promised to make security a number one issue. Security is a huge issue in Canada right now as you have seen, it’s a huge issue in Europe, and it will be a huge issue for us. I’d rather we focused on our country’s economic and social environment, on our foreign policy rather than get ourselves embroiled in what you might call responding to the New Zealand media who have been absolutely obsessed with this matter ever since Donald Trump won. There was an election in America. He won. They should get over it," he says.
Mr Peters says the entry ban affected relatively few travellers.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH WINSTON PETERS
Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com