Peters tells 78-year-old critic she has 'obviously got memory problems'

NZ First leader Winston Peters has told a 78-year-old woman who questioned his party's record that she has "memory problems". Peters read out her social media post at a public meeting in Papakura on Saturday.

Peters said to her: "Lady, you're 78 and you've obviously got memory problems". The woman, whom Peters called Wendy, asked what NZ First had achieved over the last three years with National. She said managing on a single pension was "a joke".

Her post also pointed to higher food and power bills, falling house prices and worsening access to healthcare. It ended in capital letters: "WHAT HAS NEW ZEALAND FIRST DONE FOR ME?"

Peters responded by crediting NZ First with increasing pension payments and scrapping the superannuation surtax. He cited the Gold Card, hearing-aid support and help with winter power bills as achievements of the party, according to RNZ.

Peters said NZ First had insisted on keeping the pension age at 65 and had argued against means-testing it, meaning payments that depend on a person's income or assets.