Winston Peters says 'language police' upset with comments on Jacinda Ardern's appearance have gone too far

March 4, 2018

Speaking with Q+A, the Deputy Prime Minister said people getting offended about such things has gone a bit too far.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says the "language police" have gone to far after an uproar over comments made about Jacinda Ardern's appearance.

Ms Ardern was interviewed on Australia's 60 Minutes programme, where interviewer Charles Wooley made comments about how he had never met a Prime Minister "so young, not too many so smart, and never one so attractive".

He went on to ask her and partner Clarke Gayford awkward questions about the conception of their baby.

Speaking this morning to TVNZ 1's Q+A programme, Mr Peters said his relationship with Ms Ardern is going well, describing her "positive attitude" as an "attractive quality".

The comment drew some surprise from interviewer Corin Dann, but Winston Peters was quick to defend himself.

If somebody says that Simon Bridges is an attractive man, is everyone going to get offended at that?

—  Winston Peters |

"Lets have an end to this PC attitude and language police that we've got," Mr Peters said.

"Why don't we just grow up and realise that we live in a modern world where people express themselves differently?"

Later in the programme, Mr Bridges was also interviewed, and he agreed mostly with Mr Peters' comments.

"We shouldn't have topics that are off conversation," Mr Bridges said.

"We are seeing a bit of that creep into the discourse."

SHARE ME

More Stories