Foreign Minister Winston Peters has responded to a threat from an Australian ex-politician's legal threat as ''irrelevant ill-informed shill'.
Peters has been sent a formal letter from former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr threatening defamation action.
The letter was in response to Peters' comments on a radio interview on Thursday that were later repeated in the House of Parliament.
"We place you on notice that we are now in the process of instructing New Zealand lawyers to advise in relation to the immediate commencement in New Zealand of defamation proceedings against you," the letter read.
"… The Statements are indefensibly defamatory of our client and have no basis in fact. In that regard, our client has never had any business relationship with any Chinese entity, nor has he ever served on the Board of any Chinese company.
"Further, he has never acted as an adviser or consultant to any Chinese company, nor has he ever been in receipt of any income from any Chinese shareholding or investment consultancy."
Peters appears unphased by the threat, posting on social media a fiery response.
"We should never be accepting of any irrelevant ill-informed shill from some other country to walk into New Zealand and try to tell us what to do," Peters said on X (formerly Twitter).
"Here in New Zealand, we respect something called a 'country's independent nationhood'. That principle seems lost on these people who just use it as a punchline."
Newshub has contacted Carr for comment.
Speaking to reporters after he gave a speech to the New Zealand China Council, Peters said he is standing up for New Zealand's independence when it comes to foreign matters.
"I am not going to get deviated on this matter," Peters said. "This is not my first legal rodeo."
The matter has stemmed from Carr, who was a member of the Australian Labor Party, attending an anti-AUKUS event hosted by New Zealand's Labour Party last month.
Carr earlier told Newshub Peters was "trying to sell New Zealanders a reversal of their non-nuclear principles".
"This is a 30-year policy that has been supported by both sides of New Zealand politics," he said.
"Members of his own party harbour doubts about such a big shift. Certainly, the New Zealand Labour Opposition does, which is why I was proud to accept an invitation to their forum in Parliament House on April 18 with Helen Clark, distinguished former Prime Minister and UN diplomat."
However, Peters took issue with Carr's attendance, saying he would never go to another country and start telling them what to do on major issues.
"Somebody comes into New Zealand, this is a matter for this country, and I've been on the stage internationally for a long time and I've never gone and talked to any country and told them what they should be doing."
"I don't interfere – it's called nationhood."
Peters said the Coalition Government's stance on AUKUS has not changed from the previous Labour Government's position.
As for the formal letter sent to Peters, he said he has been too busy to look at it but has had "so many lawyers" telling him: "Winston I want to be in".
