Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern believes it's "a disservice" to say New Zealand hasn't done well in the fight against Covid-19 after criticism today from NZ First leader Winston Peters.
Her comments come after Peters this morning took issue with the Government response - which his party is currently a part of - while on the campaign trail in Upper Hutt.
"Don't keep on gilding the lily and saying everyone's fine when it wasn't going fine," the NZ Herald reported him saying.
"The testing wasn't going on, the surveillance wasn't going on, the oversight and scrutiny that should have been done by the military was not happening. And masks were not used."
Ardern was asked about his remarks by a reporter in Parliament this afternoon.
"I think we do a disservice to every single New Zealander whose been part of that team effort if we don't acknowledge that.
"I think we need to take into account, relative to other countries, how well New Zealanders have done and the results that have been generated," she said.
Peters yesterday turned his attention to Green Party co-leader James Shaw’s decision to approve $11.7 million of funding for a Taranaki Green School.
“Experience in Government matters. Seriously, it’s very important and no more than now,” he said.
“This is a mistake of bad fiscals, bad understanding of the marketplace and, worse still, of a very uncertain applicant.”
The coalition Government partners were again in disagreement today, with Mr Peters calling the Green Party co-leader inexperienced.
The NZ First leader added that his party had, in his view, repeatedly stopped the coalition Government from pursuing silly ideas in the past three years.
“You cannot go on making these sorts of mistakes in this business. We’ve said it for a number of times this year. We’ve said it for the last three years in Government,” he said.
“We’ve stopped things that were a silly idea and promoted things that were a good idea. I know it wasn’t always popular with some in the media.
“I’m afraid this is a case of accountability where the blame stops with the person who is now saying he’s sorry he did that.”
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