New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has never been a man given to modesty and after another three years in government, he firmly believes that there is plenty to blow his own trumpet about.
For example, before this interview he handed the Otago Daily Times a two-page list of NZ First’s Otago achievements, and he is quick to mention — on almost any subject — the influence his party has had on the direction of the coalition government.
Many doubted that the three-party coalition government would last three years, and of those most would have assumed Mr Peters would be the man who would bring it down.
However, those naysayers forgot that all but one of the governments that NZ First has been a part of stayed the distance, and Mr Peters is still adamant it was the fault of then prime minister Jenny Shipley that NZ First’s governing arrangement with National in the late 1990s came to an end.
‘‘The reality is we've been in coalitions from the word go and this is the first for the Act Party, which started at the same time as us,’’ Mr Peters said.
‘‘This is the first time they've been in a coalition. The Green Party was effectively started in 1972 under the name Values. They've been 54 years in the wilderness, never been in a Cabinet … we've kept government stability in this country apart from the first period when you had a coup going on in the National Party without any justification.
‘‘The fact that they chose Jenny Shipley, of all people, who then took them to the worst vote in their history, backs what I said at the time.’’
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New Zealand First’s key policies
- Buy back the BNZ from Australian owner NAB and merge it with KiwiBank; funded by bond issues and long-term debt.
- Break up Foodstuffs into two nationwide supermarket co-operatives to create a new competitor in the sector.
- KiwiSaver enrolment compulsory at birth, plus a $1000 government ‘‘kickstart’’ for citizens.
- Break up the energy gentailers, so they no longer control supply and price.
- Return 50% of royalties from a mine to that region.
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Mr Peters, a veteran of the foreign affairs portfolio, was once again New Zealand’s representative aboard during this parliamentary term. It is a difficult job at the best of times, and the past three years were far from those, he said.
‘‘It's the most unstable period for 80 years, so it is really a serious challenge in so many areas and picking your decision-making processes is very, very important at this point in time.
‘‘I mean, as I said, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and when it comes to international affairs you have to be ultra careful nowadays because the cost is so much higher … there are so many people who want to open their mouth, want to criticise this, that and everything else, but if you're looking at the long-term economic and social interests of New Zealand and security interests keeping your counsel is very important.’’
Mr Peters’ other major portfolio this term has been rail — a long-time NZ First priority sector. It has been a busy three years, which included buying two new roll-on, roll-off ferries.
While opposition parties dispute Mr Peters’ maths, he is adamant he saved the country $2.3 billion by scrapping the previous government’s deal and negotiating a purchase agreement for new vessels — ‘‘smart countries ensure their markets have strong connections and that’s what we are doing.’’
Mr Peters has also been an enthusiastic cheerleader for Dunedin’s Hillside workshops, a facility which was possibly set for the scrapheap until NZ First intervened.
‘‘I'm seriously proud of the fact that in 2011 when they were trying to shut down Hillside we opposed that. We opposed the changes they were making in 2014. We got the job in 2017, and we set out to rebuild Hillside and we have hugely. We've employed a whole lot of people, we've got past our first 1000 cars being rebuilt there. That's an incredible story.
‘‘We've got one of the most modern railway utilities in the world when we're finished and it's all been done, guess where? In New Zealand, and I'm super-proud of that.’’
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Peters on:
- New Dunedin hospital: ‘‘I said this is what we're going to do: we're going to get it going. And that's why the 13th floor is there, because of New Zealand First.’’
- Bed taxes: ‘‘Our policy is a bed tax, and it will do far more for the provinces than the National Party's policy, which would be an actually a bureaucratic nightmare as they try and transfer the money.’’
- AI data centres: ‘‘Don't rush too fast here, because AI is the future, but it will need serious examination as to what's happening at the same time. But that said, here comes the South Island with another enormous advantage: it's got water and it's cold.’’
- The proposed Bendigo mine: ‘‘This country desperately needs that sort of wealth, for the kind of country that people demand. Who's going to pay for medical, health costs, education costs, all the infrastructure?’’
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Mr Peters’ political philosophy is been based upon being super-proud of New Zealand. It is inherent in the name of the political party he founded, and “New Zealand’’ has become increasingly central to its policies and ethos.
For some time now, he has been proclaiming NZ First is a nationalist rather than a ‘‘globalist’’ party, and many of the policies the party has announced so far have centred on conferring greater rights and privileges on citizens rather than residents or migrants.
When asked why citizenship was important to him and why it should be important to the country, Mr Peters emphasised being a New Zealander was a privilege.
‘‘Other countries make it very, very clear, and so should we … citizenship in this country is a serious privilege, and it comes with the following requirements,’’ he said.
‘‘Salute our flag, salute our form of democracy, salute the fact that we're one people, not a whole lot of diverse people on a different basis. We've got a new Zealand culture coming from the collection of all these people, but it's called New Zealand. That's the fundamental word we ask for, and if you don't like that, if you don't think women are equal, then don't come here.’’
NZ First has always favoured restrictions on immigration, but its desire to keep jobs for New Zealanders has often run up against the fact that sectors such as healthcare are highly reliant on overseas recruitment. Given NZ First supports delaying the entitlement of overseas-born people to things such as citizenship, voting rights and superannuation entitlements, could those policies disincentivise doctors, for example, from coming to this country?
‘‘Why do we need overseas doctors?,’’ Mr Peters said.
‘‘You know why? We're not training enough of our own. Why don't we get back to training our own doctors as hard as we can go? Or in the meantime, get offshore and get a whole lot of doctors that fit our culture, and say, come over here for the next five years, we're going to do this, this, and you will help us out while we get our medical, for the next 10 years, or get our medical services up to speed.
‘‘But are we surprised that we've got all this education and training with doctors, and half of them shoot through? That should not be happening in the future. There should be university and cost fees write-offs if you stay in this country. In the old days, when we started those institutions, or we started the Otago Dental School, it was all based on people staying here … why are we building a new hospital, a new medical facility in Waikato? All we had to do was beef up the need. That's a good point you guys should be asking yourself.’’
Another mainstay of NZ politics is the primacy of the regions. In both the recent governments it has been a part of NZ First has held a regional development portfolio and promoted growth funds tagged for the provinces.
If NZ First is back in government, expect more of the same and a greater focus on the promotion of extractive industry, with a tagged percentage of royalties remaining in the relevant province.
‘‘Half the royalty is going back to the regions and it will turn things around dramatically,’’ Mr Peters said.
‘‘There are some great cases in South Island. All we want though is the South Islanders, when we go out to defend their extraction, and extractions are critical for the world going forward, please come out and support the interests of your province. I mean the great thing about the West Coast is they're giving us a fair respect for what we're trying to do for them … when we get them going, it's going to turn this economy around, and one day we'll be wealthy again.’’
Current polling suggests that NZ First will return to Parliament with some degree of comfort on election night, and likely with more MPs than it has now.
It remains to be seen whether it will be NZ First, as it so often has, or some other party which decides the shape of the government after November 7.
Mr Peters will no doubt be influential in that calculation, and pointed out — to borrow one of his phrases — that if he was that this would not be his first rodeo.
‘‘The crushing pressure that you feel is an unstated one, and you know what it is? People expect you to find a stable government. They're in many cases ungrateful no matter what you do, but the one thing they do want that you've got to remember is they want stability. So that's what one sets out to do.’’