Winston Peters says he has reason to bring Trevor Mallard back to New Zealand early. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is celebrating former Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard being replaced as Ambassador to Ireland.
Peters named Angela Hassan-Sharp for the role in a statement about 1pm on Tuesday.
Asked about Mallard, he said "you know that famous song from the Seekers? Carnival's over".
He said Mallard was "coming home and he's coming home early".
Asked if he had a reason to bring Mallard home, he said "yes, I do".
"It's a circus where instead of looking at the national interest, you've got people like Jacinda Ardern appointing politicians to important jobs, and that should not be happening.
"Their performance will never be up to scratch for goodness sake. You people surely understand that you train people, you give them decades of experience to get into important jobs, and all of a sudden you put a politician there with no training at all."
He said no politicians should ever be assigned to diplomatic roles.
"I'm saying, that we should not be having politicians in diplomatic jobs, full stop.
"I've opposed it in all my career, and soon I'll have corrected it for a third time."
Trevor Mallard. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Asked the last time he spoke to Mallard, he said, "I can't remember ... it's got to be, oh, five years ago."
"I cannot believe that Jacinda Ardern sent somebody like him after the way he behaved with respect to the protesters out here, turning up the noise, putting cold water over young children at night. This is a disgrace, and you guys should have been calling it out, not me," he told reporters.
In 2022, Peters criticised Mallard's appointment to the role, saying it should never have happened and Mallard did not have the diplomatic judgement required to be an ambassador.
"Mr Mallard has never demonstrated any understanding of the most fundamental elements of diplomacy itself," he said at the time.
The former Speaker had Peters trespassed from Parliament's grounds after the then-former Deputy PM attended the protest occupation of Parliament's grounds.
Peters sought a judicial review over the matter, and Mallard admitted at the High Court that issuing the trespass warning was "unreasonable and irrational" and that Peters had not acted in a way which would justify the move.
Adrian Rurawhe as Speaker apologised to Peters on Mallard's behalf over the trespass when Mallard resigned to take up the role of Ambassador.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was contacted for comment but refused to comment on the reasons for Mallard's departure from the role, or even to confirm when his term had been expected to end.
Trevor Mallard had no comment to make when contacted by RNZ.
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