Heather du Plessis-Allan: I think Bob Carr might be wasting his time

I reckon Bob Carr might be wasting his time and money sueing Winston Peters for defamation.  If he was hoping that he would scare Winston into silence... he hasn't.   Winston just hit twitter today and doubled-down.  Calling Bob Carr a shill.   A shill is someone who is a bit of a hustler... who tries to convince other people to think something is great.  Suggesting he’s either shilling for the NZ Labour party who invited him... Or shilling for China.  Like in many examples of defamation cases... it often backfires.  because bob got himself all worked up about Winston first said... which was basically to call him a pawn for China.  How many of us hit the google to find out why Winston said that?  And then found the AFR article “how Bob Carr became China's pawn”    But... On the broader argument which is actually about AUKUS. Labour might need to just calm the farm a little bit. AUKUS is not quite the public flashpoint they seem to think it is... judging by the effort they’re putting in.  I reckon most people don’t care or understand, and all they're seeing is the Labour Party getting hysterical. Like them accusing Winston of embarrassing the country with this spat with Bob Carr - that's just dumb.   Winston hasn’t embarrassed the country. Bob Carr doesn't hold office. He's just a citizen who flew here from Australia to tell us what to do.  So, if anything, Winston stands to win this argument simply because he’s our guy being pushed around by an Australian.  And no one really likes being pushed around by their big brother, do they?   Anyway... Ijust wonder if Bob Carr’s underestimated Winston Peters. He loves a fight, and clearly, he’s loving the fight with Bob.   And Bob might be wise to give up while he's ahead.  LISTEN ABOVE.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.