Foreign Minister Winston Peters has ejected an anti-AUKUS protester who interrupted his speech tonight.
Peters was delivering a major foreign policy speech to the Institute of International Affairs on Wednesday night where he later clarified the Government's stance on AUKUS.
However, before he could even get to the part of his speech where he discussed AUKUS, he was interrupted by a protester.
The protester, Marie Russell, stood in the aisle and held up a sign saying 'diplomacy' with a tick next to it, and 'AUKUS' with a cross next to it.
"This is not a political meeting, it's a lecture, and if you do us all a great courtesy would you please sit down. I mean down, now," Peters said.
"In all my time going to these meetings, I have never seen such an act, and we won't have a precedent tonight.
"Now if you had waited madam until I finished, you would have now what the answer to your so-called problem is."
The woman was then ushered towards the back of the room, however, remained holding her sign.
"Lady, I am going to ask you one more time. Would you please sit down and show some respect for the rest of the audience. They've all got different views and different opinions… So why is your one the special one, while we all have to put up with this," Peters said.
He then asked security to remove her from the premises and she was carried by four security guards out of the room.
"As Elvis said 'if you are looking for trouble you've come to the right place'," Peters joked as the women left.
Speaking to Newshub outside of Parliament, Russell said she had been trespassed.
"I'm very concerned about AUKUS and whether New Zealand is going to be involved in AUKUS. I think we shouldn't be involved in military alliances of that kind," she said.
Russell said she was not hurt by security who took her out but felt it was unnecessary.
"I don't think I needed to be moved out. I wasn’t shouting or speaking loudly or anything like that. I didn't speak until the minister addressed me."
During his speech, after Russell had left, Peters said the Coalition Government is still on the same pathway as the previous Labour Government was when it comes to AUKUS Pillar 2.
He said New Zealand had not been invited to join and was a "long way" from signing up to AUKUS.
Peters also addressed critics of AUKUS, saying they are spreading "wild rhetoric" and that Pillar 2 of AUKUS, which New Zealand was exploring, was not a military alliance.
