Winston Peters was cheered and adored as he always is at the NZ First congress campaign launch yesterday, but the campaign slogan ‘Back the Future’ may be more appropriately called ‘back to the past’.
Not only has Peters relaunched old NZ First policy on immigration, pledging to clamp down on numbers like they did last election, it will be noticed that Peters didn’t do much about it during this term, with immigration levels not changing a lot until they were stopped altogether by the Covid pandemic.
This time Peters says a ‘bottom line’ is for a NZ First MP to be Minister of Immigration.
RNZ: NZ First’s campaign promises old and rehashed policies
New Zealand First is sticking to the tried and true as it fights for its survival at this year’s election.
The new campaign slogan is ‘Back Your Future’, which screamed more ‘Back to the Future’ when party leader Winston Peters took to the stage to the same theme songs and announced the same policies from years gone by.
More than 250 members and those interested in catching a glimpse of Peters in full campaign mode packed into the Highbrook Convention Centre in Auckland yesterday afternoon.
But there was nothing new about what Peters was promising – even his suit was from his younger days, after weight loss following recent surgery.
Immigration and frontline police were his two big policy announcements – one is a rehash from the last election and the other has been promised and delivered on twice before.
The immigration reset is that no more than 15,000 people come into New Zealand each year – and that they’re all highly-skilled workers.
Peters said one of his MPs must be immigration minister for that to happen.
It’s a bottom line.
Peters does bottom lines like they’re going out of fashion during election campaigns, but the bottom falls out of them once elected.
“Because we were bringing (immigration) down – but not nearly fast enough – because we weren’t in charge. That’s why we want the immigration portfolio.”
Peters said the definition of highly-skilled will change, but he’s light on detail.
“We plan to create a much smarter one… one that doesn’t have the OECD saying that your policies are a failure, (and) you’re bringing in low-skilled workers.”
He warned increasing unemployment as a result of Covid-19 and the economic slump will bring higher crime rates, and so Peters also promised another 1000 frontline police officers in three years, if re-elected.
That’s one pledge from the last campaign that was actually done. I’m not sure why he sees the need for another big boost.
Senior MP Tracey Martin also announced a universal family benefit.
It would mean all families in New Zealand, with children under 16, would be provided a weekly allowance, no matter their income.
That policy is a return to the old too.
”Well the counter of that is you have to be patient and wait for the rest of the campaign,” Peters said.
”I didn’t come here to announce the whole policy in one day. Be patient and you’ll hear some explosive new ideas.”
On Q&A he was asked why there were no policies on the NZ First website. Peters said that he knew what they were and they would be announced. It does say on the website:
At the core of New Zealand First’s policies are our “Fifteen Fundamental Principles”, which emphasise accountable and transparent government, common-sense social and economic policy, and the placing of the interests of New Zealand, and New Zealanders, at the forefront of Government decision-making.
But even they don’t seem to be available on their website.
The full Q+A interview here: Winston Peters denies Ihumātao deal in fiery exchange on Q+A
Mr Peters appeared on Q+A this morning in a heated interview with host Jack Tame, where he was asked about Ihumātao, a trans-Tasman bubble, coalition partners, cameras on fishing boats, his party’s policies, and stimulating the economy.
Mr Peters listed previous policies and accomplishments, such as the reinvigoration of KiwiRail and the billion trees promise, as well as the stopping of light rail to Auckland Airport.
NZ First also wants to remove an MP’s personal vote on conscience issues and replace it with a binding referendum.
“We are the only green party, in reality, in this Parliament because we put flesh around our dreams not just talk. That’s what we’ve done,” he said.
Yeah, right.
It was classic combative Peters but looking same old and backwards, with trademark indignation when asked things he didn’t want to answer.
It was similar on an interview on RNZ this morning, more Peters battling against the media and the world.
More from 1 News: Winston Peters outlines NZ First achievements opposing ‘woke pixie dust’ in Government, announces election promises
“We have opposed woke pixie dust,” he said of his party holding its Coalition partners to account.
“Whilst the rest have been politically correct, we’ve set out to correct politics.”
Voters will judge that in a couple of months.
So far it’s just back to the past from Peters, and he hasn’t yet come up with anything that stands NZ First out from past campaigns.
What NZ First may have to rely on to survive is for Peters to jump on a campaign issue and hope the media gives him some saturation coverage, as has happened in past campaigns. But for NZ First supporters it could be like hoping for a lotto win.