Malaysian friends’ taxpayer-funded Antarctica trip causes trouble for New Zealand’s Winston Peters
- The deputy prime minister has been accused of an abuse of power for sending the mother and daughter on the taxpayer-funded trip
- Defending the move, Peters called the criticisms about the women’s trip ‘an appalling, racist attack’
Peters said Chew Bee Lin and her daughter Kwek Su Arn went on the trip as part of efforts to raise NZ$50 million (US$33.3 million) from donations to redevelop Scott Base, the country’s only Antarctic research station. They have not yet made any donations to the programme.
The incident led David Seymour, leader of the minor ACT opposition party, to say sending the women on the trip “was absolutely an abuse of power by Winston Peters”.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson was initially meant to go on the trip from February 7-10, but had to pull out because of New Zealand’s national day and parliamentary commitments.
Emails released under the Official Information Act show that Peters insisted the two women replace Robertson for the trip, leaving officials scrambling as there was only one visitor spot.
Antarctica New Zealand, which runs Scott Base, had initially warned that science programmes or essential staff may have to be cut to make room for one more visitor, but were eventually able to fulfil the request without disruption.
