John MacDonald: At least the drunk uncle can blame the booze

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

Can I just remind you of something. During the genocide of European jews during World War 2, which we know as the Holocaust, about six million people were murdered by the Nazis.

And the property, homes, and jobs belonging to them were redistributed to the German occupiers and other non-Jews.

Yesterday, our Deputy Prime Minister likened what happened back then to co-governance. That greatly misunderstood term that, in the end, was a large part of the demise of the last government.

We were told time and time again, weren’t we, that co-governance was something to be terrified of and, apparently, some people were terrified of it.

I never was. Maybe that says I’ve got a better grip on reality than other people. Maybe it says I’m completely naïve. But, either way, I’ve never been terrified of co-governance and probably never will.

But even if I was. There is no way that I would see the so-called “threat” of co-governance in the same light as the Jewish Holocaust. Because to think that, would be nuts. To go further and actually say it, then that would be completely nutbar.

But our Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister did yesterday in his state of the nation speech. Which every Tom, Dick and Harry seems to be doing these days.

We’ve had Christopher Luxon’s one, then David Seymour’s and, now, Winston Peters’.

How anyone could sit in a room and hear that nonsense and not walk out, I don’t get. Because, when it comes down to it, could you be more offensive if you tried to the memories of those who died and the Jewish community, full stop?

I don’t think you could.

Co-governance and Nazi Germany? Really?

Opposition leader Chris Hipkins said yesterday that Winston Peters’ comments were like a drunk uncle at a wedding. The only difference is, at least the drunk uncle can blame the booze.

Winston Peters, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing. He was there with his NZ First hat on and he wanted to reassure his voters that he hasn’t gone soft or woke now that he’s in government.

He told his people in Palmerston North yesterday that, without the NZ First handbrake on board in the last government, the country went downhill.

He said without him and his crew on the bus, race-based theories had emerged.

I’ll quote you a couple of things he said.

"Some people's DNA made them, sadly, according to these people and condoned by their cultural fellow travellers, their DNA made them somehow better than others.

"I've seen that sort of philosophy before. I saw it in Nazi Germany. We all did. We've seen it elsewhere around the world in the horrors of history.

“But here right in our country and tolerated, by people whose job was to keep the system honest, this happened."

I reckon part of the problem is that, with the mists of time, the absolute horror of the Holocaust almost gets watered down a bit in the minds of people.

I’ve never been to one of the old Nazi concentration camps that are still open for visitors in Europe. I have been to Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam a couple of times. But I haven’t been to any of the concentration camps. But anyone I speak to who has, they tell me how horrific it is.

Just like co-governance would have been. You know, we would have had a few iwi representatives on the local water authority and us non-iwi people would’ve felt exactly the same as the millions of Jews rounded up during World War 2 by the Nazis, wouldn’t we?

That’s what it would have been like. According to Winston Peters, anyway. Who seems to have forgotten how he ripped into Gerry Brownlee just over four years ago - when NZ First was still in government with Labour - accusing Gerry of politicising a Holocaust memorial event.

Gerry was in Opposition back then and thought it was “disgraceful” that New Zealand wasn’t sending a representative to an event in Israel to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Winston Peters accused Gerry Brownlee of “politicising” the event. But that is exactly what Peters himself did yesterday. He used the Holocaust to try and ram home an out-of-touch, out-of-date view of the world.

And I think that was disgraceful.

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