3. Question No. 3—Foreign AffairsHon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Minister of Foreign AffairsQuestion No. 3—Foreign Affairs3. Hon DAVID PARKER (Labour) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: Does he stand by his criticisms of the critics of AUKUS including his statement about Hon Bob Carr that he is nothing more than a Chinese puppet"?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Minister of Foreign Affairs): Yes particularly those comments that highlighted the fact that critics don't know what they don't know regarding the strategic challenges New Zealand faces; that they malign the agencies of State charged with collecting and analysing for their Government intelligence that informs our view about the challenging strategic environment in the Pacific; that Pillar 2 is a technology-sharing mechanism and not a military alliance; that the critics were silent like lambs ever since October 2021 when that member's Government started considering New Zealand's involvement with AUKUS—the same Labour Government that sanctioned officials to initiate discussions with AUKUS partners in 2023 but who now act like lions following the change of Government. And one last thing: as for Bob Carr it appears we've been late to the party. Here I refer to an article in the Australian Financial Review dated 8 November 2018 that anticipated my remarks. It says "How Bob Carr became China's Pawn". Oh by the way can I just finish by saying look perhaps with his extensive legal knowledge the member can explain the difference between a puppet and a pawn. Hon David Parker: Is the former leader of the ACT Party the Hon Richard Prebble nothing more than a Chinese puppet for writing his recent article entitled "It is lunacy to join a military alliance aimed at our biggest trading partner"?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: What Mr Prebble is doing is what so many others have done and which that member and his colleagues including what former Ministers Andrew Little and the Hon Peeni Henare over there could have done and including Jacinda Ardern—they could have advised: "We started this conversation way back in September 2021 three years ago." So if they were informed then and they've been silent ever since it suggests that they've got political bias. But in Mr Prebble's case he did write a book called I've Been Thinking—and I wish you would do that now. Hon David Parker: Is the former leader of the National Party Don Brash nothing more than a Chinese puppet for writing his article "Why on earth would we join Aukus in any form?"Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: The former leader of the National Party—due to his colleagues being here I have to say he has many many skills and they're quite exceptional in some cases. But they aren't in foreign policy. Hon David Parker: Is the Hon Paul Keating the former Prime Minister of Australia nothing more than a Chinese puppet for calling the AUKUS pact "the worst deal in history"?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: I think that member should watch that former member of the Australian Parliament's body language and not rely so much upon what he's saying now. In short Mr Keating is making comments that his own Labor Party in Parliament in the Senate and in the House of Commons in Canberra don't in any way or shape support; nor do I suspect does the Hon Penny Wong the Foreign Minister. Hon David Parker: Why can't the Minister understand New Zealanders' concerns about the promotion of AUKUS when less than two weeks ago he upped the ante by saying he saw "powerful reasons for New Zealand engaging practically with [AUKUS]"?Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Can I tell that member that one of the parts about having a legal training is you make sure you put the rider on it and that very paragraph closes with the words "when the parties mutually agree that the time is appropriate". We set out very clearly last night that we haven't even had a chance to consider the matters that they began their discussion on or conclude them or have even been asked by the AUKUS partners to be a part of it and if that request comes then we'll have to examine here—and hopefully across party political lines—whether we should or not. Now that's the open environment that we've been operating in the past. Why is the process that Labour started all of a sudden now being painted so foully? Hon David Parker: Why is the Minister blind to the fact that Kiwis saw this as yet another lurch from this National-led Government while they're still reeling from other surprises like the reversal of tobacco controls to fund tax cuts using fast track to override environmental laws by ministerial fiat and multibillion-dollar tax cuts for landlords? Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Well can I just say that I'm not certain who wrote those questions but it doesn't sound like the member did. Hon David Parker: I did. I'm very happy—I wrote them myself. Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: No that member's far too clever to make those mistakes. For a start the first thing we did about the tobacco controls was put the tax up on cigarettes. Was that not noticed last December or do people just want to run their own convenient argument all the time followed by so many people up there [Points to the press gallery] who began that in the first place? And the second thing—Hon David Parker: The member's in trouble.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: No no no the member is not in trouble; in fact he quite enjoys it. I'm going to have to find a new profession—this one's getting too easy! The truth is that there's no lurch. We were left with a massive fiscal disaster—borrowing like there's no tomorrow like an eight-armed octopus with no restraint—and we're going to bring this country back to control. We're going to bring our economy as some leader has said back on track and as a more profound leader said take back our country."