Winston Peters has made his views on a number of issues, ranging from Judith Collins to the oil and gas ban.

Speaking to The Country, the Deputy Prime Minister got fiery after being asked about the reported $28 billion loss to the economy if the Government goes ahead with the oil and gas ban.

“Whichever idiot said that that’s going to be what happened, should be picked up and taken off to an asylum centre so he stops wasting anybody’s time anymore. It’s not true.”

He says that we’re going to have the same situation for the next 30 years, and only banning new exploration.

Peters says that there is better information than the “claptrap” that some people put out there.

“It’s the sort of lazy, idle stuff that should not be tolerated. If you ran a farm like that, you’d be broke tomorrow. And you shouldn’t run the media like that either.”

Moving onto the Capital Gains Tax, Peters defended the possibility of such a tax and how it would affect farms.

The Tax Working Group report comes out tomorrow, and is widely predicted to recommended a CGT.

Peters say farmers shouldn’t be affected by it, as they pass the farms down from generation to generation rather than buying to sell.

“They don’t do this kind of stuff you see in Auckland and Wellington, buy a farm and flip it tomorrow.”

He says that the Government will tell the public what they are thinking once the report comes out.

When Jamie Mackay raised an article from the Herald asking whether Peters or Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is running the China policy, the Deputy PM immediately brushed it aside.

“It will be one useless, idle journalist who doesn’t know what day it is.”

He says that he and Ardern work together, and that she knew about his speech in Washington last year criticising them for not doing enough in the Pacific.

“What is wrong with me saying to the Americans that you’ve lived here since 1945 and you haven’t put enough time into your neighbourhood, after all you are a country that has a border on the Pacific, and I’m asking you to pay more attention to your neighbours. What’s wrong with that?”

On the subject of Judith Collins outpolling Simon Bridges, Peters says that “of course” she has leadership ambitions.

“Everyone in the National Party knows that this is one vulgar attempt to be the next leader of the National Party.

“Everyone she does and says is designed to be the next National Party leader.”

Peters is not sure if she would be better Opposition than Bridges, as he isn’t really tough opposition at all.”  

The Deputy Prime Minister has also taken a swipe at Dame Jenny Shipley, over her opinion piece on Chinese news website People's Daily.

Dame Jenny describes China's Belt and Road funding programme for overseas infrastructure as one of the greatest ideas ever heard globally, and says we should listen to China.

The former National Prime Minister chairs the Chinese Government-controlled China Construction Bank NZ.

Peters told ZB earlier that that's extraordinary.

"If you know about the BNZ and that scandal and the winebox and everything else, shje exhibited no financial undestanding of commerce whatsoever. So what I make of that is that there is just someone else selling out New Zealand's interests.'

But Shipley says she hasn't spoken to the state-run newspaper since December, when she was interviewed for a feature.

It seems part of that article's been re-run under her byline.

Shipley says it's important for the Foreign Minister, Prime Minister and others to understand she would never think of getting into a public situation like this, at such an important time for New Zealand's relationship.