Carr–Peters scandal

The Carr–Peters scandal is an ongoing diplomatic and political scandal in Australasia, between Bob Carr, formerly Australian minister for Foreign Affairs and premier of New South Wales, and Winston Peters, New Zealand's current minister of foreign affairs and then-deputy prime minister. The scandal began with an initial incident on 2 May 2024, when Peters appeared on RNZ to discuss proposals to join Pillar 2 of AUKUS, a military pact Carr has strongly opposed, by calling him "nothing more than a Chinese puppet",^[1] and that he "sold his soul to China",^[2] among other now-redacted insults.^[3][4] Carr said the comments by Peters were "entirely defamatory".^[5]

Bob Carr in 2012

Winston Peters in 2023

A transcript of the interview and articles it spawned were rapidly censored after Carr accused Peters of libel. Peters stood by his statement about Carr at questions for oral answer in Parliament.^[6] The main New Zealand opposition party, Labour, called for Peters to be stood down as a minister. In response, Peters held a 2018 Australian Financial Review article titled "How Bob Carr became China's pawn", arguing his statements weren't unfounded while also under the protection of parliamentary privilege.^[5][7] After mulling over legal action, Carr announced later the same day would indeed be suing Peters.^[8] Peters then ridiculed such threats and compared Carr to Chumbawamba, an English band which had not followed through on threats to sue Peters for using their song 'Tubthumping' for political purposes without permission.^[9] Prime Minister Christopher Luxon refused calls to dismiss Peters, his crucial coalition government partner, and has said that "they're not comments I would make. They are comments in the rough and tumble of politics. He is doing an exceptional job".^[6][10][11]