Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he intends to talk to deputy prime minister Winston Peters about his comments comparing co-governance to Nazi Germany.
Peters made the comments at a "State of the Nation" speech in Palmerston North on Sunday.
He took aim at the previous Labour government's "race-based theory", alluding to co-governance, "where some people's DNA... made them somehow better than others".
"I've seen that sort of philosophy before. I saw it in Nazi Germany, we all did."
Today, at his regular post-Cabinet press conference, Luxon said he planned to discuss Peters' comments with him, saying it was "not what I would say".
Luxon said, in general, there was a "need for everyone to be careful with their language, including Labour leader Chris Hipkins likening the government to a "dictatorship" last week — for its use of urgency to progress laws — and Te Pāti Māori's use of the words "white supremacist" to describe some of the coalition Government's policies.
The Prime Minister said "extreme language" on both sides was not helpful and, while he had not yet had a chance to "catch up" with Peters, he spoke with him regularly and intended to do so soon, including discussing the language Peters had used in the speech.
Hipkins and Peters had traded barbs over the speech, with Hipkins saying Peters was behaving like a "drunk uncle at a wedding". Peters returned by saying Hipkins' comment was "laughable coming from someone who would get drunk on a wine biscuit".
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