Peters Calls For Governor-General's Resignation

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has called on the Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright to resign one of her two incompatible positions.

“It is inappropriate for any Governor-General to be involved as patron of a group such as the Pan Asian Congress. The Queen does not involve herself in party political issues of the day and neither should her New Zealand representative. The political independence of the Governor-General is fundamental. In continuing to hold down both positions Dame Silvia is undermining the constitutional position and entering the political arena. She surely cannot rely upon the bland assurances of one of the country’s leading lobbyists that the group is independent or apolitical,” Mr.Peters said.

“The minutes of last month’s meeting for the proposed New Zealand Pan Asian Congress (held in Dunedin on 2 September) provide a number of compelling reasons why this organisation cannot claim to be apolitical: The meeting was told by Mai Chen that the Prime Minister told her as early as last August that she was prepared to launch the Congress in her electorate “where 50% of the people are not white.” Chen also noted the support of Phil Goff and the Minister of Ethnic Affairs. The report of the meeting further notes that there was a full discourse on Winston Peters and New Zealand First and that Chen told the meeting it had been decided the group should not be set up before the election because ‘it might become an election issue’ and that ‘straight after the election was the time’. She then noted that ‘we got a result we never expected and therefore, after the elections…….it had to happen”.

“Our invitation to the event was received on 30 September, with an RSVP for two days later, hardly a serious invitation to a meeting with pre-arranged guest speakers, none other than the Prime Minister and her Minister Chris Carter. And when Mai Chen quickly announces to the world that we are not attending the motivation becomes clear! The Governor-General must resign one of the positions. She cannot allow herself to become politically embroiled as the result of the calculating actions of Chen and Clark,” Mr. Peters said.

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