PM accuses John Key of lack of NZ knowledge

RADIO NEW ZEALAND: The National Party leader is defending comments he made about the history of New Zealand.

John Key has been quoted as saying: "New Zealand is not a country that's come through civil war or a lot of fighting internally. We're a country that peacefully came together."

Prime Minister Helen Clark says Mr Key has demonstrated a deep lack of understanding about the history of New Zealand.

But Mr Key says he was talking in the context of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, and is not denying that there were violent episodes in the past.