United Future MP, Marc Alexander, today lamented that New Zealand First leader, Winston Peters, appears to have changed his stance on race relations since Mr Peters first entered Parliament in 1979.

At Question Time in the House today, Mr Alexander quoted from Mr Peters’ maiden speech, which included the remark that “New Zealand is not a monotonous garden where every flower is the same; it is a garden where the diversity of the blooms enriches the view.”

“I would like to point out the irony inherent in the fact that Mr Peters said in the same speech that the worst kind of critics are those who ‘set out to exploit every tremor and spasm in society, the economy, or race relations, seeking to use every such event as a vehicle to project his own public personality,’ ” said Mr Alexander.

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