Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Newstalk ZB

Political Correspondent Barry Soper wraps the political week.

The Deputy Prime Minister's facing defamation accusations from former Australia Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, following comments Peters made about Carr's relationship with China.

Barry Soper told Heather du Plessis-Allan ‘Winston has been terribly diplomatic overseas, and maybe the diplomacy has gotten too much for him.

Peters says he was simply defending NZ’s foreign policy.

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Wellington's Victoria University's controversial free speech debate is back on, with more speakers added.  

A panel discussion around the role of universities in free speech was meant to be held on Monday, but it was pushed to the end of May, after opposition from some students. 

Victoria University Vice Chancellor Nic Smith told Heather du Plessis-Allan they've added more people than anticipated. 

Smith said there’s now two debates - “People with a viewpoint, and people who are more interested in the principles and regulations of what speech is.” 

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Julie Anne Genter shouted at Wellington florist, Laura Newcombe about cycleways in Wellington.  

Newcombe told Heather du Plessis-Allan that she could tell Genter didn’t really want to buy flowers and came in with a big attitude.   

“It’s common knowledge that I was opposed every single car park removed from the shopping precinct.” 

Newcombe said “Perhaps she just wanted to come in, and sort me out.” 

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I reckon Bob Carr might be wasting his time and money sueing Winston Peters for defamation. 

If he was hoping that he would scare Winston into silence... he hasn't.  

Winston just hit twitter today and doubled-down. 

Calling Bob Carr a shill.  

A shill is someone who is a bit of a hustler... who tries to convince other people to think something is great. 

Suggesting he’s either shilling for the NZ Labour party who invited him... Or shilling for China. 

Like in many examples of defamation cases... it often backfires. 

because bob got himself all worked up about Winston first said... which was basically to call him a pawn for China. 

How many of us hit the google to find out why Winston said that? 

And then found the AFR article “how Bob Carr became China's pawn”  

 But... On the broader argument which is actually about AUKUS. Labour might need to just calm the farm a little bit.

AUKUS is not quite the public flashpoint they seem to think it is... judging by the effort they’re putting in. 

I reckon most people don’t care or understand, and all they're seeing is the Labour Party getting hysterical.

Like them accusing Winston of embarrassing the country with this spat with Bob Carr - that's just dumb.  

Winston hasn’t embarrassed the country.

Bob Carr doesn't hold office.

He's just a citizen who flew here from Australia to tell us what to do. 

So, if anything, Winston stands to win this argument simply because he’s our guy being pushed around by an Australian. 

And no one really likes being pushed around by their big brother, do they?  

Anyway... Ijust wonder if Bob Carr’s underestimated Winston Peters.

He loves a fight, and clearly, he’s loving the fight with Bob.  

And Bob might be wise to give up while he's ahead. 

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The UK local elections are underway - and Rishi Sunak's fate is hanging in the balance.

Polls indicate Sunak is losing, and his party stands to lose approximately 50 percent of their council seats.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says this could open up a discussion about Sunak's standing ahead of the election.

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China's economy has been experiencing a downturn- weak growth, increased debt, and unwanted Government intervention.

Despite this, China's stock market is the second-best performing market in the world so far this year.

Fisher Funds' Sam Dickie explains further.

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