Mr Luxon yesterday shot back at Mr Peters, who earlier in the day said he should have been given a heads-up about Tuesday’s vote of confidence at National’s caucus meeting.
Mr Luxon has accused his foreign affairs minister of trying to ‘‘scaremonger’’ and having an ‘‘anti-immigrant bias’’.
Mr Peters described Tuesday’s leadership vote as a bad move and unprecedented, and warned there would be further consequences.
National deputy leader Nicola Willis also launched a broadside, saying Mr Peters had a ‘‘track record of picking Labour over National, and that’s the risk you run with him’’.
She took aim at her coalition partner after he earlier said Mr Luxon was wrong not to warn him of Tuesday’s motion of confidence under the no-surprises clause in the coalition agreement.
The comments from both senior ministers signalled the election campaign has well and truly begun, Ms Willis also saying Mr Peters was ‘‘mischief-making’’.
While he was successful, the prime minister refused to take questions about it afterwards or say if it was unanimous.
Asked if he should have been warned ahead of the vote, Mr Peters, the NZ First leader, said ‘‘it would have been wise to — yes, of course’’.
Mr Peters, whose parliamentary career began in the 1970s, said it was an ‘‘unprecedented’’ move from a sitting prime minister, and not one he supported.
‘‘Because you see, you can tell when the next one’s going to happen. Not initiated by himself, but by others, and just wait for the next round of polls. And that’s the sad thing.
‘‘I mean, this is unprecedented ... there are going to be consequences. They’re seriously predictable consequences. But what I was astonished by was that they didn’t seem to understand, sadly, what they were doing. And here we are, part of the coalition, where stability of government all the way to the 2026 election and beyond is the critical component.’’
— Jo Moir, RNZ
