It isn't just whites who are against immigration in New Zealand

Ean Higgins:

WINSTON Peters thinks he will get on fabulously with Asian leaders because, like him, they think it is an outrageous mistake to let too many immigrants alter a country's ethnic make-up.

Mr Peters caused ripples around the world when news broke on Monday that he would be New Zealand's new Foreign Minister in Prime Minister Helen Clark's third Labour-led government.

He negotiated the plum job as part of a complex deal in which his nationalist New Zealand First party would support Labour on confidence and supply, although not within a formal coalition. Mr Peters is an unashamed anti-immigrationist who has said Muslims should be ethnically profiled and, as a default position, kept out as a terror threat.

Yesterday he did not resile from his comments, including those he made four years ago: that the country was becoming an Asian colony.

In an interview with The Australian last night, he said he was no newcomer to world affairs, having travelled and met Asian leaders when he was a senior minister in previous National-led governments.

"When I was a treasurer, a deputy prime minister, I got on with them superbly," he said.

Japan, Malaysia, China and other countries of the region had a policy of little or no immigration, he said.

"It is absurd to suggest that somebody talking in New Zealand about excessive immigration would not be acceptable to Asia," he said.

Mr Peters said he was not surprised that news of his appointment had caused a stir. "Much of the comment is originated by New Zealand journalists and taken on by international media, shallow as that view might be," he said.

Mr Peters said his remarks on Asian immigration had been in a specific context, ignored by the New Zealand media. At the time, a study by a leading expert, Gareth Morgan, had analysed the rate of emigration of New Zealanders to Australia against the rate of immigrants coming to take their place.

"Immigration had been running at about 58,000 a year, at a time when Australia had been taking 82,000 a year," he said, noting Australia had five times New Zealand's population.

Mr Peters, a former teacher and barrister, is one of the country's most experienced politicians.

A Maori and former Maori affairs minister, he worked with Ms Clark in her last government to draw up legislation securing beaches from land rights claims. Like Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson, he emphasises the importance of advances for indigenous people, including health, housing and economic opportunity.

Hat tip, Steve Sailer!

Peters brushes off criticism

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Peters brushes off criticism

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