Winston Peters has backed Health Minister Simeon Brown’s decision not to reappoint the chair and deputy chair of the Medical Council, saying the move was not a sacking, but a refusal to continue appointments he believes were tied to ideology.

In an interview with Chris Lynch Media, Peters was asked about draft Medical Council material which said New Zealand’s health system was shaped by settler traditions from the United Kingdom and Western Europe, and that doctors should use their professional privilege to influence and dismantle unfair systems and power imbalances.

Peters said there was “no doubt” the issue amounted to ideological capture. “This is a further case of woke gone mad in this country,” Peters said.

“The reality is he’s not sacking anyone. He’s just not reappointing them.” Peters accused mainstream media of misrepresenting the issue by using the word sacking.

“The media know full well the circumstances, but why would they actually stick with the truth? The word sacking sounds more dramatic.”

He said patients wanted doctors focused on medical competence rather than ideology. “All the patient wants to know is, am I seeing a competent, able, qualified person to the best of their ability?”

Peters said activism had crept into multiple parts of public life, including education, transport and health. “This sort of activism has crept through so many areas. It’s deeply crept into education. It’s crept into other areas like road transport.”

He said the medical profession needed to return to its core purpose. “In this case, in terms of the medical profession, get back to doing the job that you’ve been charged to do.”

Peters also responded to a threatened defamation claim from Rainbow Action Tāmaki after he described protesters as a “rent a crowd” and made other comments about them.

Asked if he was “shaking in his boots” or reaching for the cheque book, Peters dismissed the threat. He said one of his posts on the issue had attracted about 1.7 million to 1.8 million views, with about 14 percent of those views coming from Australia.

Peters compared the threat to a previous warning of legal action from former Australian politician Bob Carr, saying he was still waiting for proceedings to be filed two years later. “I can’t wait to get a thing called discovery against these people,” Peters said.

The New Zealand First leader also defended moves to put biological sex back into legislation, saying safety in women’s spaces was a core political responsibility.

“If you’re the parent of a young girl who’s too scared to go to the toilet because of being potentially the victim of a sexual threat or abuse, or a woman in the same circumstance, because somebody who should not be there is there, namely a male, then you will understand what I’m talking about.”

Peters said the issue should not need to be debated, but common sense and logic had to be put back in front of the public.

“The vast majority of New Zealanders understand this.” He said he had been contacted by gay and lesbian New Zealanders who did not believe the issue represented them.

“This is not in any way about our situation. This is about fundamental human rights,” Peters said. “The number one responsibility of any politician is first of all the security and safety of the citizens of this country, and the majority of them happen to be women.”

Peters also used the interview to expand on his recent Keep Hope Alive speech, saying New Zealand needed to focus on national sovereignty and economic security.

He said New Zealand should be putting its own interests first and taking inspiration from countries including Singapore, Taiwan, Croatia and Ireland.

“It is putting your country’s interests first and making sure you get the maximum added value.” Peters criticised the sale of major parts of New Zealand’s primary industries to overseas buyers, including dairy and meat assets.

“How did the Chinese get control of Silver Fern Farms? How did the Chinese get control of West Coast dairy?”

He said politicians had failed to make a stand for New Zealand ownership and economic control. “The politicians have not made a stand on behalf of New Zealand.”

Peters said he wanted politicians to set the right policy framework, while capable people with commercial ability ran major assets for the benefit of New Zealanders. He said Singapore’s state investment model was an example New Zealand should consider.

“That’s what they did, and so should we do the same.”

Peters said the Bank of New Zealand should never have been sold to Australia and should be returned to New Zealand control. “The Bank of New Zealand should never have gone. It should never have been sold off to Australia.”

He said Kiwibank should eventually be folded into a wider national banking structure, with New Zealanders encouraged to save from birth.

Peters said when a child was born, they should be given $1,000 to start a savings account. “If they add to that for the rest of their lives, we’ll turn this country around.”

On rising power prices, Peters criticised the electricity reforms of the late 1990s and said politicians had failed to act when prices kept rising. He said power prices were meant to plateau, but instead had gone “vertical.”

Peters said New Zealand First had supported provisions allowing the Government to intervene if the pricing system did not work properly, but successive governments had not used them. “You can’t trust the political system,” Peters said.

He also repeated his call to break up supermarket duopolies, saying the current groceries commissioner did not have enough power.

“We’re not going to have a system where you’ve got a groceries commissioner and he’s absolutely powerless, like a man of war without any guns.”

On fuel prices and global security, Peters said he believed New Zealanders could see lower pump prices sooner if the Government took a tougher approach with fuel companies. “I think we could see it sometime much sooner if the Government was aggressively telling the fuel companies we’re not waiting around for you to take these prices down.”

Peters said global energy companies had profited heavily from international instability and should be forced to pass on lower costs. He said peace and open sea lanes were critical for New Zealand and other trading nations.

“The most critical thing is peace is what we want, and we want the straits open.” Peters said international law around freedom of navigation must be protected, otherwise the cost to New Zealand and other economies would be severe.

“If they’re allowed to do what they have done, then other countries will do the same.” Peters said the key issue in any United States and Iran peace arrangement would be Iran’s nuclear capability.

“The only part I paid real attention to was the end of the nuclear capacity for Iran. That’s what it really will swing on in the end.” He said the world would have to wait and see whether any deal produced lasting peace. “Let’s keep our fingers crossed that there is going to be a long term peace.”