Labour's Foreign Affairs spokesperson says critical comments from Winston Peters are distracting from real issues.

Peters criticised former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr in an interview - over his stance on the AUKUS pact.

Carr's called those comments defamatory.

Labour's David Parker says the comments are being used to obfuscate the Government shift on AUKUS.

"Saying 'well, we should look at it' to saying, just a couple of weeks ago, there are powerful reasons for New Zealand to engage practically with AUKUS."

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