Peters said New Zealand’s tough response to COVID, while understandably strict at the start of the pandemic, became a “disaster” over time as “fundamental factual incongruities” were ignored in an attempt to eradicate the virus.

Closing schools for extended periods is a damaging decision, he said.

“Children were the least vulnerable (to the virus), and we knew that, but we stopped everything,” he said.

“The price for New Zealand is that we are still struggling to emerge from this malaise. This is compounded by our massive levels of school truancy. If we had not closed our primary schools, this would not have happened. But there is a reluctance to say we were wrong.

The Albanian government’s COVID-19 inquiry attracted criticism when it was announced for excluding examination of “actions taken unilaterally by state and territory governments”, but the final report found more critical of state governments than many expected.

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Health Minister Mark Butler defended the inquiry on Sunday, describing it as a “very comprehensive, measured and sensible report which examines a range of decisions made by state governments”.

“He doesn’t take his shots at all,” Butler told Sky News.

Peters said trans-Tasman relations had been strained by the Albanian government’s adoption of a new immigration rule – known as Directorate 110 – designed to give administrative review officials more leeway to expel foreign criminals.

Peters said New Zealanders with few ties to the country of their birth, including those who have spent most of their lives in Australia, should not be deported in a bid to ease Labor’s political problems in matters of immigration.

“Dare I say it: on March 15 we had the worst terrorist act ever committed by an Australian in New Zealand,” Peters said, referring to the 2019 Christchurch massacre in which Brenton Tarrant killed 51 people during two attacks on mosques.

“I hate to think that we could be used for political purposes.”

The federal government abandoned the old “Directorate 99” after it was accused of allowing dozens of convicted criminals to be released into the community rather than returned to their country of citizenship.

Peters said Australia had been “a massive beneficiary of New Zealand’s education and skills system”, arguing that New Zealanders were the highest-earning immigrants to Australia.

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“All I want from you is a little gratitude,” he said.

“I don’t want to hear any chauvinistic behavior from your politicians. Don’t come crazy with me.

Immigration from New Zealand to Australia has accelerated significantly in recent years, with the country recording a net migration loss of 27,200 people to Australia in 2023 as Kiwis seek economic opportunities overseas.

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