Outside of the House, Peters told reporters he had not been contacted by Carr’s lawyers and likened the threats to the Chumbawamba debacle.
“The last time I talked to you about Chumbawamba I was told I was going to be sued by all the Tom, Dick and Harry. You’ve made a huge sensation for a couple of weeks, made all sorts of false allegations and I haven’t even been contacted yet,” Peters told reporters.
Labour weighed in on Peters’ comments on Thursday morning, saying he should be stood down as Foreign Minister.
“Winston Peters has abused his office as minister of foreign affairs, and this now becomes a problem for the prime minister,” Hipkins told reporters.
However, Luxon said he has not spoken to Peters about the comments, nor has he seen any legal action being commenced.
“They’re not comments I would make. I’m sure Bob Carr is a seasoned politician and understands the rough and tumble of politics,” Luxon said.
“What I would say is I think Winston Peters has done an exceptional job at lifting our urgency, intensity and engagement with our partners around the world.”
It comes after Peters made a major foreign affairs speech to the Institute of International Affairs on Wednesday night in which he addressed the public debate surrounding AUKUS.
During this speech, Peters confirmed New Zealand have not been invited by AUKUS partners to join the agreement.
He added that if the country is invited sometime in the future, we would then need to decide whether or not to accept a decision, which the Government was a long way from making.