Winston Peters is trying to blame the previous government for signing New Zealand up to the UN’s Global Compact on Migration, claiming that the whole process was initiated in 2016.
Nice try Winston, but no chance.
Stuff reports: quote.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has criticised National for attacking a United Nations pact on migration, which he says the party initiated in 2016.
This week National leader Simon Bridges said if his party was in government, it would pull out of the UN’s Global Compact on Migration because of what he saw as its potential to restrict New Zealand’s ability to set its own migration and foreign policy.
He called on the Government to outline its position on the intergovernmental negotiated agreement, which is set to be signed in Morocco next week.
Peters told Parliament on Thursday that Cabinet had not yet made a decision on the now-controversial pact, which was the result of a process National began in Government in 2016. end quote.
First of all, kudos to Simon Bridges for two things here. First, he says National doesn’t want a bar of the UN’s Pact. Good. Secondly, by saying that a National government would pull out of it, he has brought the issue to the attention of the public and the media, who have studiously ignored the subject, even though the pact is to be signed in a week’s time. Once again, the sycophantic media have avoided the hard questions, and it was left to the leader of the opposition to bring these question to the fore. Good on Simon Bridges for that. quote.
“We are dealing with a compact process that was signed up to by the then National Party in December 19, 2016 … committed New Zealand to signing the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants and to have the process of time going forward to this time in 2018,” Peters said. end quote.
Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story, will you Winston? National did not sign up to anything in 2016. quote.
National’s Foreign Affairs Spokesman Todd McClay asked Peters if he was aware the agreement made no distinction between legal and illegal migration and called for restrictions on freedom of speech and the media.
Peters said he had studied the allegations, which had been made by some countries around the world and some people in a worldwide campaign, very carefully.
“Both those allegations are demonstrably false,” he told the House. end quote.
Not true here either, Winston. You are just making it up. quote.
Outside the House, McClay rejected any suggestion National had signed up to an agreement in 2016 that had led to this pact.
He said an agreement had gone through the UN that New Zealand had not spoke out against, but had not actively signed up to – only 15 countries had.
“We didn’t attend the meetings. All countries in the UN allowed it to go through. It was open for signature, the National Government did not sign it – Peters is wrong, but that happens often.” end quote.
Yes, but the real question here is not what the previous government did – or did not do – in 2016. The big question is – what is this government going to do about this pact now? quote.
“The one that is before Cabinet has been negotiated by his Government. A lot of New Zealanders have the same concerns that Australia, the United States, and more than 15 other countries do, the Government shouldn’t be signing this, it commits the Government to doing things that are not in our interests.” end quote.
What is Winston’s modus operandi here? By blaming the previous government for supposedly signing us up to the deal, does this mean that the Labour-led coalition government is going to sign it?
That is what it sounds like to me.
How on earth could Winston, who has been anti-immigration for as long as anyone can remember, ever consider signing up to this?
The fact that the government has not condemned the pact for the damage it would do to member country’s sovereignty, is telling enough.
Photoshopped image credit: Luke
Everyone knows that Jacinda, and her puppet master, Helen Clark, would want to sign the pact, which basically allows all migrants to country shop and turns migration into a human right. How can Winston even consider signing up to something like this?
I’m not sure there is any other way of interpreting Winston’s movements here. To me, it appears that the government is going to sign New Zealand up to this treasonous pact and then he is going to blame National for it.
Winston’s treachery really does know no bounds. His reasoning, however, is harder to fathom. Surely Winston is too old for a job at the UN? So what else has he traded for agreeing to this?
Whatever it is, you can bet your sweet life that it will be beneficial to Winston himself, but if he really is selling New Zealand out to the UN, then this time he really has gone too far