Auckland (The NZ Today)
The coalition war of words between Opportunity and New Zealand First has escalated, with Winston Peters saying his party ruled out working with Opportunity “long ago” after Qiulae Wong said excluding NZ First was becoming a “serious consideration”.
Wong told 1News in Nelson that Opportunity was increasingly questioning whether it could work with NZ First, particularly after Peters defended a party advertisement blaming “woke” diversity, equity and inclusion policies for the sinking of HMNZS Manawanui.
She stopped short of a formal rule-out, saying Opportunity would still initially talk with the party that secured the largest number of seats.
But Wong said NZ First’s presence in a potential government would be something her party would now have to weigh “very seriously”.
Peters responded on social media soon afterwards, making NZ First’s own position much clearer.
“Here is a ‘serious consideration’ — we long ago ruled out working with this bunch of pinko communists,” he wrote.
He also attacked Opportunity’s leadership selection process and criticised what he described as “slow learning naive consultants” and supportive sections of the mainstream media.
The exchange follows a series of increasingly personal clashes between the two parties.
Wong had previously said Opportunity would not support Peters becoming finance minister after he told Green MP Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan to “go back to your own country”.
The latest tension was triggered by an NZ First campaign video featuring former Defence Minister Ron Mark, who argued that diversity, equity and inclusion policies had gone too far and used the loss of Manawanui as an example.
Peters subsequently said Commander Yvonne Gray had been appointed through a DEI programme and claimed she was not qualified for the role.
Wong said policy differences could potentially be negotiated, but remarks she considered racist or sexist made cooperation much harder.
Before Wong’s latest comments, Peters had also dismissed questions about working with Opportunity, saying he did not want to spend time discussing a party he did not believe would necessarily survive the election.
Opportunity was on 6 percent in the latest 1News-Verian poll, down one point but still above the 5 percent threshold required to enter Parliament without winning an electorate seat.
National has already ruled out working with Opportunity, while Wong has continued to say her party would initially negotiate with whichever side emerged with the strongest mandate.
The latest exchange now leaves little doubt about NZ First’s own stance, with Peters saying the door to a deal with Opportunity had already been closed.
Source: Winston Peters social media and 1News
