NZ First leader Winston Peters has mounted a defence of his party’s proposal to define “woman” in law when questioned over its enforcement in a sometimes fiery interview with RNZ’s Morning Report.
The party has proposed new legislation to ensure the term “woman” is interpreted as “an adult human biological female” and “man” as an “adult human biological male” across all laws.
The member’s bill, submitted in the name of MP Jenny Marcroft, comes days after Britain’s highest court ruled that only biological – and not trans – women meet the definition of a woman under the UK’s laws.
The bill is not Government policy and will only be debated if it is pulled at random from the ballot.
Speaking on Morning Report, Peters said NZ First had been arguing the matter “for years” and it aligned New Zealand with the majority.
“It would be catching up with the mass majority of people in the world and not going down some woke leftist ideology track where no one knows what’s what.”
Peters said the Government had “no place in the nation’s bedrooms” but the proposed law was simply “putting the facts out there that are biologically correct”.
Asked how it would be enforced, Peters said transgender women would not be challenged until they walked into a single-sex space, or if they wanted to participate in a sporting situation like rugby or boxing.
“If you’re going to make a claim that you have something you’re not, yes, you will be subjected to a biological test. And why not?” he said.
Peters said he intended this bill to replace a self-identification law which allows New Zealand citizens to change their registered sex on their birth certificate.
That legislation was introduced by former NZ First MP Tracey Martin when she was Internal Affairs Minister.
She then paused progress on the bill in 2019, citing “complications”.
It was later picked up after the 2020 election by Martin’s successor, Labour’s Jan Tinetti, and passed unanimously in 2021.
Peters objected to a question about Martin’s involvement, saying Parliament was in lockdown and: “She got away with doing that behind our backs.”
Approached for comment, Martin told RNZ: “If two men are going to talk about me, it would be nice if they got their facts right.”
Peters: ‘You’re a disgrace’
Towards the end of the Morning Report interview, Peters also took aim at interviewer Corin Dann, accusing him of advancing the views of NZ First’s opponents.
Dann had raised the criticism lodged by Labour and the Greens that Peters was importing a culture war to distract from his failures at home.
Peters said the line of questioning was “so typical” of RNZ.
“The fact is, you’re paid for by the taxpayer and sooner or later we’re going to cut that water off too, because you’re an abuse on the taxpayer. You’re not hearing both sides of the story, you keep on putting the argument of the woke left.
“You’re a disgrace to the mainstream media.”
He also said that when other political parties were interviewed, the atmosphere was “placid,” adding it was little wonder that public faith in the media was dropping.
An RNZ spokesperson said RNZ had a rigorous editorial policy that demanded its work was always underpinned by fairness, accuracy, independence, respect and decency.
“This was a robust political interview where our interviewer conducted himself in a professional manner.” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“RNZ was recently recognised as New Zealand’s most trusted news brand. A result that is consistent with our own research that shows trust in RNZ has increased over the last year and a result that demonstrates our strategic focus on improving trust.
“We will continue to deliver reliable and trustworthy information to all New Zealanders and cover the topical issues of the day.”
Other parties weigh in
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, speaking from London, said National as a caucus would consider the bill if it were drawn from the ballot. However, he said he had already made his views clear that “pregnant people, frankly, are women”.
“Let’s have some common sense about it, and let’s use some common sense language.”
Luxon said New Zealanders were more concerned about the government focusing on the economy, law and order, health, and education.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins told RNZ it was “highly unlikely” Labour would support the bill.
“We’ve had a long and proud tradition of empowering people to be who they are, to respect people’s individual identities, and I think that’s highly unlikely to change. And frankly, it’s kind of bizarre that this is Winston Peters’ number one priority at the moment,” he said.
rnz.co.nz
