Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has refused to say if he’ll reprimand New Zealand First’s Winston Peters and Shane Jones over comments that have been labelled “xenophobic” by the Greens, instead deciding to just tell all MPs to “watch their language”.

Responding to Jones calling out in Parliament “send the Mexicans home”, the Mexican Embassy in New Zealand said it was “following up on this matter through diplomatic channels”.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Peters said he was “aware of concerns raised by the Mexican Ambassador with MFAT” and looked forward to seeing the Ambassador at Waitangi next week.

“In the heat of the moment in the robust environment of Parliament, sometimes some members say things when provoked that, on reflection, may have been expressed differently.”

However, Peters earlier said he wouldn’t speak to Jones about his remarks and he stood by his own remarks.

Winston Peters and Shane Jones. Photo / Tania Whyte

Peters caused a stir on Tuesday when he told Green MPs Lawrence Xu-Nan and Francisco Hernandez to “show some gratitude” for being in New Zealand.

That same day, Jones shouted out “send the Mexicans home”, which the Greens’ Ricardo Menéndez March (born in Mexico) said was “xenophobic”. He said that type of language “emboldens” others to say similar things in public and called on the Prime Minister to act.

Luxon on Thursday refused to say whether he would reprimand his two ministers.

“They are not remarks I would make myself,” he said. “I obviously have conversations with colleagues all the time. All I will just say is having seen remarks from members of parties across Parliament, even in the last 48 hours, my call, as I said last year, was every MP needs to watch their rhetoric.”

He said he hadn’t had a chance to speak to the ministers about their remarks.

Asked how it was appropriate for his ministers to make those comments and not face consequences, the Prime Minister again said he had seen comments from other MPs that weren’t helpful.

The Herald pushed for him to address the comments of his ministers rather than those from MPs from different parties. He responded by saying, “everyone just needs to watch their rhetoric” as they were in Parliament to focus on New Zealanders.

Peters said a lot of comments in the House are “absolutely overreacted to” and “this is one classic case”. He wouldn’t speak to Jones about his interjection and believed the Greens were “separatists” and “divisionists”, whereas he was a “nationalist”.

When the Herald asked whether he would watch his language as the Prime Minister had asked all MPs to, Peters responded: “I’m watching my language all the time, I’m more concerned about your language actually”.

He stood by all his comments.

“I have been here a darn long time. I know what is par for the course. I know what is acceptable. I am not going to be one of those gutless twits who the moment he gets offended thinks it’s a Standing Order matter. No, it’s not.”

Peters believed he had helped improved the relationship between New Zealand and Latin America.

The Mexican Embassy told NZME it was “following up on this matter through diplomatic channels”, but Luxon said he wasn’t concerned it was affecting New Zealand’s international relations.

Labour’s deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni said it wasn’t good enough the Prime Minister wasn’t acting.

“That’s indicative of the weak leadership that we’ve seen from him as a Prime Minister.

“They may be Members of Parliament from a different political party, but they are ministers in his Cabinet. He is responsible for them and their actions and statements. He needs to hold his ministers to account.”

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office.