New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hosted a news conference taking aim at the media for what he calls "speculative drivel".
"Something's gone wrong with our democracy in terms of the fair presentation and balanced reporting," Mr Peters said in the Beehive theatrette on Wednesday afternoon.
He said that some media should be "frankly ashamed of yourself".
He pulled out a copy of today's Dominion Post newspaper to shoot down an article that stated Mr Peters is 'up to his old tricks keeping people guessing'.
"Now frankly if that's the value you place on journalistic integrity you go right ahead, but the reality is you could point to the Electoral Commission and others and ask yourself why is it that 384,000 people will not have their vote counted until the 7th of October," he said.
"Maybe then you could say to yourselves that may be the reason why New Zealand First has to withhold its view because we don't know yet what the exact precise voice of the New Zealand people is."
He also took aim at the idea that any party had the 'moral authority' to form a government.
"Please don't write the kind of thing that says someone's got moral authority. For what? We're not in First Past the Post here, we're under MMP and I expect the media to catch up after 21 years."
Mr Peters won't be making anything clear to the media until the special votes have been counted on October 7. A final decision can be expected on October 12 when the writ is returned.
"All I'm asking for is a bit of understanding rather than the tripe that some people are putting out, malicious, malignant, and vicious in the extreme."
The NZ First leader said that the media won't influence the party's negotiations or final decision.
"We're not going to be persuaded or dissuaded by any of the speculative drivel that's been written by some of you around this country and you should be, frankly, ashamed of yourselves. It's not true, it's ugly false, and I don't hate people or nor do my colleagues hate people."
At one point he asked a journalist where he was from, who replied they were from Australia. "Yeah it shows," Mr Peters said.
"I've been around for 21 years in this party, made a whole lot of sacrifice and been demonised and cinderella-ised and marginalised by everybody, and don't you come over here and start."
Newshub.
