By Russell Palmer of RNZ

Foreign Minister Winston Peters is celebrating former Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard being replaced as Ambassador to Ireland.

Peters named Angela Hassan-Sharp for the role in a statement about 1pm on Tuesday.

Asked about Mallard, he said “you know that famous song from the Seekers? Carnival’s over”.

He said Mallard was “coming home and he’s coming home early”.

Asked if he had a reason to bring Mallard home, he said “yes, I do”.

Trevor Mallard faced criticism from Peters over his appointment by Jacinda Ardern, with Peters arguing that politicians should not hold diplomatic roles. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“It’s a circus where instead of looking at the national interest, you’ve got people like Jacinda Ardern appointing politicians to important jobs, and that should not be happening.

“Their performance will never be up to scratch for goodness sake. You people surely understand that you train people, you give them decades of experience to get into important jobs, and all of a sudden you put a politician there with no training at all.”

He said no politicians should ever be assigned to diplomatic roles.

“I’m saying, that we should not be having politicians in diplomatic jobs, full stop.

“I cannot believe that Jacinda Ardern sent somebody like him after the way he behaved with respect to the protesters out here, turning up the noise, putting cold water over young children at night. This is a disgrace, and you guys should have been calling it out, not me,” he told reporters.

RNZ has sought comment from Trevor Mallard.

-RNZ