Winston Peters: New Zealand First leader on the party's annual conference

The New Zealand First election campaign may have begun, and Winston Peters believes the party is marching forward with practical solutions.

MPs and supporters gathered in Palmerston North over the weekend for the party's annual conference.

Members discussed 55 remits, which could end up being policy proposals in next year's election campaign.

Party Leader Winston Peters told Mike Hosking NZ First is compellingly different from other parties, doing the right thing for Kiwis.

He says the party sits in the middle, is pragmatic, and talks about common sense solutions.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The pe is. The election campaign of twenty six is
already begun. They gathered in Palmston North over the weekend
from New Zealand First Rev Up Stewart Nash turned up
as a possible future candidate and we got some key
we Saber policy as well. Leader Winston Peter's with us.
Pretty good morning to you. Good morning this Paris accord
between you and Act? Are you placing already pressure on
National to do something about it?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
It's not between us and Actor. I said a long
time ago that the developments of the huge emissions from
four countries caused us to the question liners, are we
expected to deliver on our part of the bargain when
they are not delivering on theirs. The Actarty has followed that,
but it's not agreement to us an Act. We've never
spoken about it.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
No, But between the two of you, you've got three
parties in coalition running the country at the moment. Two
of them don't want to be part of Paris. So
do you lean on National?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Well? No, look, I'm not saying what that Actarty is
saying in that sense. What we're saying is we have
to go and ask the rest of them what on
Earth they think is going on in terms of the
deal that they signed up to at the time, and
how can it possibly be delivered when four countries have
sixty percent of the emissions?

Speaker 1 (01:06):
The detail on Kiwi Cyber, when do we get it?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Oh, look, read developing that because what's happened here is
you've got thousands and thousands of people, hundred thousands have
signed up, but they're not contributing, they're not saving, and
so it's not as deeply the easy as some of
the journalist's thought just to work out what's going on.
But we're going to make it compulsory and we're going
to assure they're spaced in at a level which you'll
see comprehensively is followed overseas. We need to turn this

(01:32):
into a super super saving fund and a superinvestment fund
at the same time. But not in the control of politicians.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
When you talked about yesterday tax cuts, that's literally a
tax cut for a person who's contributing to Kiwi Cyber
or is it is it a rebate or how it
it worked.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
That's a tax cut for the person contributing to KIVSAB
and also for the employer.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Right, so I would pay I would pay less tax
if I'm contributing to kiwisaber exactly? Are you still with us?

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yes? I said exactly, yes.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Okay, the differentiation. What's your assessment at this particular point
of the campaign because I listened to your speech yesterday
and I heard what you said about a variety of
different things, and I'm thinking to myself, how do you
differentiate yourself as a party in a campaign where you're
not going to go with labor so you're sort of
lining up to go with National maybe Act again and

(02:25):
you've got to look different. How does that work?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Because we're compellingly different. We're not out their ideological extremists
putting out something that's failed for the last forty years
or something in the case of the left hand side,
which failed a long time ago, from the day had started.
Of course, some much misery around the world called martyrsm
we're in the middle. We're pragmatic and we don't deny that,
and we talk about common sense solutions and around the

(02:50):
world and around these in at the moment, that's what
people are asking for. Look, just give an example, Dad.
Provincial airlines were starting to close down at critical paths
like Flake Burrial Alan and Elsewherekatane for example. And we've
stepped in and found three two men to say, now
this is vital to keep it going. We've got to
keep that infrastructure going because as they recover and go forward,

(03:10):
then they will be essentially part of the national good,
national network, and they're now tied into any Zealand. That
crisis forced us to do the right thing and ensure
that we keep the infrastructure going. We can't afford to
have factory stones because of lack of energy. That's what
his zil First is saying. We're talking about practical solutions,
not blind ideology that somedow somehow says oh we'll restinct

(03:31):
to this and it'll all come right. Well, we've waited
forty five yets for to come right. It has come right.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Bottom lines are any of the policies? Who will any
of the policies be bottom lines? During the campaign.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
I don't like that expression might, because that means you're
not actually there to negotiator, there to be adamant and
rigid about things. But if there are things that we
are never going to sell ourselves out for, yes there are,
but we don't call them bottom lines. We just help
the rest have got enough common sense of negotiating table
to understand them all right.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
I appreciate time very much. Whinston Peter's New Zealand First
Leader could have been the start of the campaign right there.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
News Talks at B from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.