New
Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at the Race Relations
Commissioner, who said she would be keeping an eye on his comments about
the Chinese.
Mr Peters made the comments during a speech at a
Grey Power meeting in Te Kuiti today, where he also repeated his
concerns about Chinese immigration and crime.
He said Race Relations Commissioner Susan Devoy's
comment that she was tired of Mr Peters' tirades was "insidious
censorship under the guise of the race relations industry, [which] has
to be stopped in its tracks".
Mr Peters said his party felt Ms Devoy "should be
given a chance" in her new role. However, she should "read our speeches
and ignore the professionally outraged white liberals and cultural
fellow travellers who pollute the landscape and demand the rest of the
country pay for their civic amenities".
The party had a "long history of being attacked by those who don't like our message".
"When people seek to curtail free speech, alarm bells should start ringing," he said.
Last
month Mr Peters labelled Auckland a "super city of sin" partly because
of fast-tracking of visas for Chinese tourists into the country. He said
Chinese immigrants contributed to the crime, drug and prostitution
industry, which was being fuelled by gambling.
He
defended the speech today, saying it was "based on research reports and
from people who knew what they were talking about – i.e. Chinese, who
share New Zealand First's concern".
Mr Peters said there were parallels with New Zealand in 2013 and George Orwell's novel, 1984, which deals with the themes of the destruction of freedom of speech.
"Being
told the facts even though the facts hurt is a part of life, and in
recent years there has been a shift from telling people the truth.
"George Orwell would have had a field day in New Zealand circa 2013," he said.
3 News Mon, 24 Jun 2013 3:41p.m.
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