Phil Goff has been sacked as NZ's High Commissioner to the UK
Former Labour leader Phil Goff overstepped in his comments about United States President Donald Trump – despite being “right” he “was not diplomatic”, a foreign relations expert says.
Goff’s position as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom was stripped from him on Thursday by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters after Goff made “deeply disappointing” comments about Trump this week.
Asking a question of Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Elina Valtonen at a Chatham House event in London, Goff said he had been rereading a speech by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1938 after the Munich Agreement.
“He turned to Chamberlain, he said, ‘You had the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, yet you will have war’,” Goff said.
“President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office. But do you think he really understands history?”
Peters moved quickly to take action, saying: “Phil Goff’s comments are deeply disappointing”.
“They do not represent the views of the New Zealand Government and make his position as High Commissioner to London untenable.
“We have asked the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Bede Corry, to now work through with Mr Goff the upcoming leadership transition at the New Zealand High Commission in London.”
University of Auckland associate professor of politics and international relations Dr Stephen Winter said Goff could have remained High Commissioner to London despite his “faux pas” in “a less fraught international environment ... but it is a time of profound tension”.
Winter told the Herald: “My sense is that Goff did step over the line when he impugned the honour of the American President and through him, the character of American foreign policy. NZ needs to steer a careful course, and it is Minister Peters’ call as to how that course should be steered.
“In a less fraught international environment, this faux pas might have been handled in ways that kept Goff in London. But it is a time of profound tension.
“But Goff can take comfort from the fact that he is right, even though he was not diplomatic.”
Meanwhile, former long-serving diplomat Peter Hamilton, who held posts in multiple countries, told the Herald Goff’s comments reflect how difficult it is for a former senior politician to cease being a politician once taking on a diplomatic role.
“While Goff’s comments might have been fine if he was still a serving NZ politician, they overstepped the mark when he makes them as the diplomatic representative of the Government of New Zealand,” Hamilton said.
He said Peters’ decision to recall Goff was logical in the circumstances because Goff had overstepped the boundaries for the New Zealand diplomat.
“Whatever our private views of Trump may be, and like Mr Goff we all have them, they take on a different hue when uttered in one’s capacity as a serving NZ diplomat.”
Former Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark, whose Cabinet Goff served in, posted on X after the announcement: “This looks like a very thin excuse for sacking a highly respected former NZ Foreign Minister from his post as High Commissioner to the UK.
“I have been at Munich Security Conference recently where many draw parallels between Munich 1938 and US actions now.”
Peters said he would have taken this action regardless of what country Goff’s comments were about.
“If he had made that comment about Germany, France, Tonga, or Samoa, I would have been forced to react. This is seriously regrettable. One of the most difficult things one’s had to do in a whole career,” he told reporters.
It was a difficult decision because: “I worked with Phil Goff, I have known him for a long time, I’ve worked in Government with him.”
Peters said officials advised Goff of the decision and it will be up to them to handle the timeline of his replacement.
He told the Herald he didn’t consult Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on the decision, though he did advise him of it afterwards.
Speaking in Cromwell, where he had been visiting local businesses, Luxon said he “expected our diplomats to be diplomatic”.
He said he didn’t expect to be consulted on Peters’ decision, which he said was “entirely appropriate”, nor did he feel sidelined.
“I expect my ministers to have total accountability over their portfolios. They are empowered to do that. Winston Peters is completely right to make the decision he made.”
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Goff’s comments “were certainly more political than you would expect from a diplomat”.
“I think if a politician had said those comments, I don’t think anyone would particularly bat an eyelid, but Phil Goff is currently a diplomat, and so there is a different standard for diplomats.”
Goff, a former Labour leader and Foreign Affairs Minister, was appointed to the post by the Labour Government in 2022 and started work in London in January 2023.
He left Parliament in 2016 and was Auckland Mayor from November of that year until 2022.
Just months into the role, Goff caused offence to Kīngi Tūheitia at an event for the New Zealand delegation in London, after forgetting to perform a karakia (prayer) and telling the delegation no one in the room had experienced a coronation before.
Hipkins, then Prime Minister, said at the time it was “certainly regrettable”.
“It was a mistake. I think it is important, you know, in these sorts of events that we do acknowledge the Crown-Māori relationship, and Kīngi Tūheitia clearly has a relationship with the Crown over here – we should acknowledge that.”
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Why does New Zealand take such a long summer holiday break?
Most Kiwis are counting down the days until their summer holiday - whether they're heading off camping, heading to the bach or just taking a few lazy days at the beach.
But has it always been this way?
Richard Wolfe is a cultural historian and the author of more than 40 books about Aotearoa.
"Leaving town over Xmas and January has become a key part of the local cultural identity," Wolfe said.
The New Zealand History website, operated by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, calls the summer lull an "end-of-year prize for being a New Zealander".
However, not everyone is 100 percent on board with our somewhat leisurely summer pause.
A post on LinkedIn by business adviser Toss Grumley went viral in the past week, as Grumley wrote that he was "baffled every year by New Zealand's intense Christmas shut down".
"In what world as an economy and country are we operating in an environment where no business discussion can happen for a period of ten weeks," he asked. His question sparked debates on news and social media sites.
On NewsTalk ZB on Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he had spent much of his career working overseas where the long holiday break wasn't the same.
"In the US you maybe get two weeks' annual leave holiday and Christmas is a couple of days off and you're back at it again.
"I've always been used to going back to work on the 3rd or 4th of January," he said.
Auckland Business Chamber head Simon Bridges told Stuff : "There is a view that New Zealand just shuts down not just for Christmas and New Year, but in many cases, all the way through to March."
How did our long summer break become such a Kiwi institution, anyway?
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Wolfe said one of the big factors behind our long summer break is, well, the summer weather. Our Australian cousins benefit from that, too.
"I suggest that what's behind the 'summer break' is, fairly obviously, the local (antipodean) climate," he said.
Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere is in the middle of winter which isn't quite as conducive to long camping holidays and days at the beach.
And despite the image of an entire country putting on the brakes, not everyone in New Zealand actually takes off the entire summer until March.
"We want to shop, go to the movies or watch TV, and we expect everything to be available, so hospitals, power suppliers, the police and many other essential services still run 24/7," NZ History noted. "And if we live on a farm, then summer means more work, not holidays."
We also roll Christmas and New Year together with our "summer holiday," which places like America and Europe tend to do in August. There are also only a couple of public holidays between June and Christmas like Matariki and Labour Day.
One commenter wrote on Grumley's LinkedIn post that "people are exhausted by the end of the year" here in New Zealand, "so we shut down for a solid month".
Changing laws, changing transport
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Holidays as we think of them now are a fairly modern invention.
According to Te Ara the online encyclopedia of New Zealand, originally the two statutory holidays for Christmas and New Year's at the height of summer "provided a compelling reason" to take a break.
As far back as the 1860s even gold miners would take a break then, as Coromandel goldfields granted two weeks' special protections over claims.
The long holiday began to evolve over the 20th century thanks to tightening labour laws and the growth of wider travel with the introduction of the automobile and trains.
"Another important factor may have been the introduction of the Annual Holidays Act in 1944, making a two-week paid holiday a legal entitlement for full-time employers," Wolfe said.
Compared to some countries, Kiwis get a generous amount of paid leave time.
The latest version of the Holidays Act from 2003 entitles employees to at least four weeks of paid annual leave after 12 months of continuous work.
That's quite a contrast to, say, America, where there is no legally mandated paid holiday time.
New Zealand's geography and compact size meant the beach was the most likely place for labourers and their families to go.
"Because no part of the country is more than 120 km from the nearest coastline, the beach and associated baches became popular destinations," Wolfe said.
"I would suggest that the 'summer break' was established in the period of post-war prosperity in the 1950s, with the continuing growth in the number of privately owned cars, thereby increasing personal and family mobility."
But does a break really impact our economy?
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In his opinion piece, Grumley claimed the long holiday affects New Zealand's productivity.
Not everyone agrees.
"Work less, live more," one commenter wrote in response to his post.
Fleur Fitzsimons, national secretary of the union Public Service Association, said holidays are important to workers.
"New Zealand has a culture of long hours, workers need more holidays to recharge, reconnect with their families and get ready for the working year ahead."
The government has announced changes to the Holidays Act, which would see both annual and sick leave accumulate based on hours worked. Unions and opposition parties have said they fear that could trample workers' rights and entitlements.
Fitzsimons said the government has been taking rights away from workers by cancelling pay equity and introducing changes to the Employment Relations Act, calling it "out of touch" with the needs of working New Zealanders.
"If the government is serious about improving productivity, cutting holidays is the wrong approach.
"We have a mental health crisis in New Zealand - the last thing we should be doing is talking about fewer holidays."
Wolfe said that the current summer break may help workers recharge their energy for the year ahead.
"A shorter break might in fact have the opposite effect - creating disgruntlement among workers who feel they're being short-changed," Wolfe said.
"And as climate change kicks in and the world gets warmer, perhaps the summer break will become vital for maintaining the health and welfare of New Zealanders."
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Poll: Are our Kiwi summer holidays helping us recharge, or holding the economy back? ☀️🥝
There’s growing debate about whether New Zealand’s extended Christmas break (and the slowdown that comes with it) affects productivity.
Tracy Watkins has weighed in ... now it’s your turn. What’s your take? 🤔
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72.8% We work hard, we deserve a break!
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17.2% Hmm, maybe?
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10% Yes!
Some Choice News!
Many New Zealand gardens aren’t seeing as many monarch butterflies fluttering around their swan plants and flower beds these days — the hungry Asian paper wasp has been taking its toll.
Thanks to people like Alan Baldick, who’s made it his mission to protect the monarch, his neighbours still get to enjoy these beautiful butterflies in their own backyards.
Thinking about planting something to invite more butterflies, bees, and birds into your garden?
Thanks for your mahi, Alan! We hope this brings a smile!
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