The AM Show hosts have slammed the Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters' "d**k move" posting a photo of himself fishing amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
Peters posted the photo to social media on Monday - immediately sparking outrage and debate.
He is not technically breaking alert level 4 lockdown rules, as he was fishing from his front lawn. However, that didn't stop Peters' actions from dividing New Zealanders.
One commenter said, "This photo seems a bit out of touch" but others were less harsh saying, "That’s called staying within one's bubble and enjoying the laurels of being close to a source of food".
The AM Show sports reader Mark Richardson, along with his fellow hosts, condemned Peters' actions.
"I think what Winston was doing wasn't against the rules but it was bloody against the spirit of the game," Richardson said on Tuesday.
Newsreader Amanda Gillies said while it was a "beautiful photo", she too was not impressed.
"In light of this, when we're saying to everyone, 'Please don't go fishing, please don't go surfing' - that was a d**k move," Gillies said.
And host Duncan Garner criticised Peters for "taking the mickey". Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters on Monday that she hadn't seen the photo.
Ardern has repeatedly given the hard word to those flouting the lockdown rules. Last week, Health Minister David Clark offered his resignation after it was revealed he had broken the rules.
The Prime Minister did not accept Clark's resignation because of the pandemic but stripped him of another role.
"We've set out the expectations around people using boats to go out and undertake certain activities because of the risk that it poses.
"I can't give you a specific response to what you've just put to me because again I'm giving you the general rules at this time," said Ardern, referring Peters' photo.
And according to a spokesperson for Peters, "there is nothing to see here".
"The picture is of the Deputy Prime Minister on the morning of Easter Monday, in his bubble, on his front lawn," the spokesperson told Stuff.
