A senior minister in New Zealand, Shane Jones, is facing heavy criticism after mocking a proposed free trade deal with India by calling it a “butter chicken tsunami”. New Zealand is expected to sign the trade agreement in New Delhi next week. The government has described it as a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity that could open huge business opportunities in India, the world’s most populous country.

But the deal has now become politically controversial after strong opposition from one of the ruling coalition partners. Jones later defended his controversial comment, saying he uses dramatic language to get attention during political debates.

According to Radio New Zealand, Jones said some fellow MPs have asked him to tone down the way he speaks, but he believes strong wording helps him make an impact. “I get cut through on debates by deploying hyperbole,” he said.

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What Shane Jones Said

In a video now circulating online, the New Zealand First deputy leader said his party would “never accept” the India trade deal.

He claimed that “unfettered immigration” linked to the agreement would lower wages, crowd roads, and put pressure on hospitals and public services. “I don’t care how much criticism we get. I am just never going to agree with a butter chicken tsunami coming to New Zealand,” Jones said.

Immigration will be major election issue

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament on Tuesday morning, Jones said immigration would be a key issue this election year. “I don’t want to cross words with the prime minister,” Jones said, but added he disagrees with how the government is presenting the agreement.

“I just say to the prime minister that New Zealanders are not going to tolerate unfettered immigration, ruining our foundation culture and clogging our services at a time we can hardly afford to upgrade the infrastructure that New Zealand has.”

Jones admitted that several MPs had privately asked him to reduce the dramatic language.

“There have been various members of the Parliament who have said: ‘Oh, come on, Jonesy. We know you like your one-liners, but can you just taiho and talk in a far more prosaic term,” he said.

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Labour leader calls remarks racist

Labour leader Chris Hipkins strongly criticised the comments during an interview on Morning Report.

He said the remarks were “racist at the least” and urged Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to speak more firmly against them. Later, Hipkins told the media that if he were the prime minister, he would not tolerate such comments.

“There is no room for racist rhetoric in any government that I lead,” Hipkins said. “Any ministers who walk down that road will find that they won’t be ministers for very long.”

Prime Minister says comments were ‘unhelpful’

At his post-Cabinet press conference on Monday, Prime Minister Luxon said he had not seen Jones’ full comments but believed they were a “gross misrepresentation” of what the trade deal actually involves.

“I don’t know. I’m just saying the immigration story that they are scaremongering around is absolutely false.”

“We have taken them through the data, we have taken them through the details of that deal. We’ll continue to do so, because we would love them to rethink their position,” Luxon said, according to RNZ.

He added: “I appreciate they’ve got a pretty hard no against anything around free trade agreements. I just think that makes New Zealand poorer.”

When asked directly whether he thought the remarks were racist, Luxon did not clearly say yes or no. “It doesn’t sound right,” he said, describing the language as “alarmist” and “unhelpful”.