Winston Peters’ commitment to be the first to enter the Pike River mine was nowhere to be seen in the Government’s announcement this morning, says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“That will come as a deep disappointment to many.
In 2016, Mr Peters offered ‘to be on the first party back in.’ Earlier this year, he doubled down: ‘I made that statement a long time, before anybody wanted to enter the mine because I do have an experience of mining or working underground... so it's nothing new in terms of danger.’
“This is the latest in a litany of broken promises from Mr Peters over a 40-year parliamentary career. No wonder New Zealanders don’t trust him.
“During coalition negotiations last year, Newshub’s Lloyd Burr performed the arduous task of uncovering every one of Mr Peters’ bottom lines.
“By my count, Mr Peters has failed to achieve at least 29 of them.
“To be fair to Peters, it’s a good thing he didn’t achieve a few of these bottom lines – some of them are just bonkers.
“On the issues of a smaller Parliament and scrapping the Maori seats, ACT has taken up the baton which was dropped by Mr Peters a long time ago.
“Mr Peters has again shown himself to be a lion on the campaign trail and a lamb in the Parliament.”