It’s interesting to read Peters’ speech to the NZF Convention earlier this year:
Convention Speech: The Battle For New Zealand
17 July 2017
Speech Rt Hon Winston PetersNew Zealanders are asking themselves the obvious question – will we have a stable government. Political stability will be what the National Party tries to argue in this election that they represent. Well, the world’s most stable, unsinkable ship was the Titanic, until it sank.
• Is there anything stable about Nick Smith’s housing policy?
• Is there anything stable regarding our First Freedom – the freedom to be secure in our homes and businesses, and on our streets?
• What’s stable about National’s policing policy when the police are short-handed everywhere.
• What is stable about a society with worrying mental health issues, as Mike King pointed out – what is stable about a system where one has to prove they are suicidal to even access the little services that are available?
• What is stable about an economy when over 130,000 can’t even get one hour’s work, when 92,000 young people aren’t in education, training or employment? Where another 100,000 are desperately seeking more work hours?
• What’s stable about an economy with the most volatile currency in the whole wide world? • What’s stable about an economy where imports way exceed exports, or where manufacturing is declining?
• What’s stable about an economy when the level of home ownership is the lowest in 63 years, or where Maori home ownership has declined by a massive 38%?
• What’s stable about an economy when hundreds of GPs write to the government saying they can’t get a lunch break, they are so overloaded. And where so many district health boards are in debt?
• What’s stable about an economy where education sees kids packed into libraries, corridors or worse for their lessons?
• Or students leaving university with more debt and no job than their parents with a job?
• What’s stable in an economy that signs up to the Paris Agreement and paying $1400m a year offshore when we could fix our climate change obligations back here all by ourselves?
• What’s stable about a government that is converting railways from electricity back to diesel, and shutting down lines everywhere, preferring roads instead?
This government wreaks of instability from the top all the way down to Todd Barclay.
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This country is headed for a political upset. What’s happening in NZ is that people have simply had a gutsful, where the poor have been bypassed and the middle-class have been left behind.
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National is the Robin Hood party in reverse.They are taking off the poor to give to the rich, many of whom are foreigners.
Under National we are a country that does not invest in its people and itself. Under them our country will have given up.
What sort of government is National?
What sort of a Government allows an unprecedented flood of migrants running at a net 73,000 a year?
What sort of government allows in a tsunami of low skilled immigrants and puts their interests first?
What sort of government allows massive population growth from immigration when public services are already grossly overloaded and stretched to breaking point?
What sort of government allows a housing crisis that not only threatens the financial stability of the country but also has killed the home ownership prospects of most young Kiwis?
What sort of government would destroy the livability and quality of life of Auckland in its obsession with massive population growth?
What sort of government would deliberately use the trick of mass immigration to inflate GDP growth numbers while concealing the enormous costs this influx imposes on ordinary New Zealanders?
What sort of government has happily seen the sale of hundreds of thousands of hectares of NZ land into foreign ownership along with the sale of many other valuable property and business assets offshore?
What sort of government has not lifted a finger over 9 years to reduce the 95% foreign ownership of the NZ banking sector – with the huge outflow of profits and dividends this entails?
The answer to these pertinent questions is plain.
We have a government that works only for the elite few – not for you!
We have a government that always puts the short-term profits and greed of its cronies ahead of the interests of New Zealanders as a whole.
We have a government that serves the globalization agenda of its mates in big corporates and international business
Some of us can remember when we governments that took their role as stewards and guardians of New Zealand’s collective interests seriously.
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We are asking New Zealanders to think for a moment. Not about support, but about trust. When did they last have a leader, they could actually trust. Not just to run the country but who could actually be trusted. …
This speech certainly resonated with NZF members, who cheered along and yelled out support (see video extracts here). The Herald sums up:
‘Trying to con the public’: What Winston Peters really thinks of National
Video footage has emerged of Winston Peters making a scathing attack on Bill English and a number of other MPs – saying they have created an unstable government that has exacerbated poverty.
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“This Government reeks of instability from the very top all the way down to Todd Barclay. The poor have been bypassed and the middle-class have been left behind.”
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Peters went on in his speech to call the National Government “Robin Hood” in reverse – taking off the poor to give to the rich, many of whom are foreigners.“They want to know why as working men and women they are so damn poor, and why so many ‘shiny bums’ in Wellington are not doing anything to help them.”
He also called out a number of National MPs by name, for being untrustworthy, and said English was “brazenly trying to con the public”. “Bill English goes around boasting that people want to come to New Zealand because we are a growing economy. Much of the world is a hell hole. Talk about post-truth politics.” He questioned when New Zealanders last felt they could actually trust a National MP. …
That stuff is kinda hard to walk back. NZF Party members voted on the reasonable expectation that Peters would use any position of power to boot the Nats out. And now, post election, they are speaking up loudly:
Winston Peters getting flooded with messages to pick a Labour-led government
If Winston Peters was to believe his Facebook account then it’s Labour’s door he should be knocking on to form a government with.
The NZ First leader’s social media has been inundated with comments from his supporters, and quite possibly Labour supporters, saying things like “54 per cent of voters voted for change”.
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“New Zealanders wanted MMP so that ALL people would have a say, so that ALL parties would be heard, BIG AND SMALL. This is what our country needs. Positive Change through the collaboration of 3 different viewpoints…..I’m so excited to see the RED BLACK & GREEN start to mend Aotearoa,” was another post. …
See also:
Winston Peters mum on coalition, but voters make preferences clear
Winston Peters’ voters wanted change and now they are demanding it on Mr Peters’ own Facebook page.
Hundreds of posts from people who voted for New Zealand First are imploring Mr Peters’ to ally himself with Labour and the Greens to form a new coalition Government.
“I voted NZ FIRST for change. Please do right by all the kiwis that don’t have a voice and my vote won’t be wasted,” one person wrote.
“54 percent of voters voted for change! Be the change Winston!” another wrote.
“I would love to see you choose Labour. I think National will steamroll you somehow otherwise. Keep it kiwi and choose labour please,” another asked.
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“National backstabbed you and you know it. National is too cocky and proud to admit their own failures. What a great opportunity for a change of good government,” one wrote.“Go with Labour, please Winston. You know Bill will promise the earth and then deliver nothing. NZ wants and needs change!” another said. …
The anecdotal evidence is backed by this poll before the election (Colmar Brunton):
1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll: Kiwis want NZ First to go with Labour, not National
The latest 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton election poll has revealed Kiwis would prefer New Zealand First supports a Labour-led government.
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The poll showed 46 per cent of respondents supported Labour, a third say National and seven per cent don’t want the party in government at all. The rest don’t know. …
And now (unscientific Facebook poll):
Labour or National – who do Kiwis want Winston Peters to choose?
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The question asked, ‘Who do you think Winston should choose?’, with a choice between the National Party, and the Labour Party with the Greens. Over 6,100 voted for Labour and Greens, over 2,500 voted for National, and there were about 350 other Facebook emojis used as at 5.30pm today. …
To keep faith with democracy and with his party members Peters has to go with Labour Green. Otherwise trust in politicians takes another hit, and NZF will implode.
Update: Newsroom goes through lots of recent Peters speeches and pulls out key quotes.
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