22 July 2020, Peters attracted media scrutiny for allegedly using his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs to get Antarctica New Zealand to arrange a taxpayer–funded trip to Antarctica for two wealthy friends. Peters defended his actions and claimed that he was trying to raise NZ$50 million in private sponsorship to offset some of the costs of the NZ$250 million redevelopment of New Zealand's Antarctic base Scott Base. In response to evidence that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned in September 2020, Peters called it "deeply troubling". Superannuation payments In late August 2017, Peters admitted being overpaid in superannuation for seven years while living with his longtime partner Jan Trotman. The overpayment occurred because the relationship status box on his application form was left blank. Peters stated that he and the Ministry agreed that there had been a payment error but said he had paid the money back – amounting to nearly $18,000. Peters paid interest and penalties on the overpayment. The overpayment was subsequently leaked to the media. Peters described it as a private matter and expressed outrage that it had been leaked. In 2019, while serving as Deputy Prime Minister, he took former National ministers Paula Bennett and Anne Tolley, the Ministry of Social Development, its former chief executive Brendon Boyle, and State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes to court seeking $450,000 from each defendant for breaching his privacy. On 20 April 2020, Justice Geoffrey Venning of the Auckland High Court dismissed Peters's case against Bennett, Tolley, the Ministry of Social Development, Boyle, and Hughes on the basis that Peters had not been able to establish that they were responsible for the disclosure of the payment irregularity to the media. However, the High Court also ruled that Peters's privacy had been deliberately breached during the lead-up to the 2017 general election in order to publicly embarrass him and cause him harm. On 20 July 2020, Winston Peters was ordered by the Auckland High Court Justice Venning to pay a total $320,000 to the defendants Bennett and Tolley, State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes, the Ministry of Social Development and its former chief executive Brendan Boyle. In response, Peters announced that he would appeal the High Court's judgment. 2020 general election During the 2020 New Zealand general election held on 17 October, Winston Peters and his fellow NZ First MPs lost their seats after the party's share of the popular