Taxpayers foot $12,000 bill for Winston Peters' farewell bash – an event he didn't even want 22 Feb, 2021 04:00 PM 4 minutes to read Former Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was at the event and used his speech to sing the praises of New Zealand's Foreign Ministry. Photo / Mark Mitchell Former Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was at the event and used his speech to sing the praises of New Zealand's Foreign Ministry. Photo / Mark Mitchell Jason Walls is a political reporter for the New Zealand Heraldjason.walls@nzme.co.nz@Jasonwalls92 Taxpayers forked out close to $12,000 for an event celebrating former Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters' tenure in the job.