Date 29 February 2008

Press Release
For Immediate Release. Winston at it again.

Winston is up to his old tricks again, aggressively attacking reporters who ask him questions that he doesn’t like.

Hans Laven, Tauranga candidate for the Republic of NZ Party, today accused Mr Peters of lacking the statesperson skills to represent New Zealanders.

“Why doesn’t Peters simply answer the questions? He often seems to avoid accountability by resorting to aggressive personal attacks against our media representatives.”

Yesterday’s outburst from Mr Peters was in response to questions about the source of a large donation allegedly provided to NZ First last year. Although NZ First president Dale Jones had stated that the donation was anonymous, Mr Peters yesterday claimed there had been no donation but the money was merely a consolidation of existing party funds.

At the Republic of NZ party electorate office in Tauranga today, Mr Laven said:

“Winston complained about being bailed up by the media when he returned from his latest overseas jaunt yesterday. Does he think that the media should let him off the hook? He is a highly-paid parliamentarian who makes laws for us all and who has spent around $1m of our hard-earned taxes travelling around the world, after promising in 2005 that his party would not form a coalition and that he did not want the baubles of office. The voters now deserve full answers about his party’s activities.”

ENDS

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