Barry Soper: Think this is Winston Peters' last term as an MP? Think again

COMMENT: You ain't heard the last of Winston Peters yet.

That's the clear message he left listeners to Wellington's Newstalk ZB morning talk show, bristling at the suggestion that this could be his last hurrah.

Peters rarely does talkback radio - he prefers mixing it with the masses than mouthing into the microphone - which is a pity, because he was something of a call magnet with the lines jampacked during his 45 minutes in the studio yesterday.

To the suggestion that the 73-year-old Acting Prime Minister may retire at the next election he left the audience in no doubt he'll be around for a while yet.

Peters cited the case of the man who looks set to become Malaysia's Prime Minister: 70-year-old Anwar Ibrahim, who he says he knows well, they both served as their countries' deputy prime ministers and finance ministers way back in 1996.

Anwar looks set to replace the current Prime Minister there, 93-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, who once had his likely successor jailed on trumped up charges.

Peters said he's heard enough of the ageist talk which is hard on people who are "fit, smart, on top of their game and with all the experience in the world."

And if you think his political days are numbered at the ballot box for throwing his hat in the ring with Labour, rather than National, as one of his on air supporters told him, forget it. He told the caller that internal polling showed National behind Labour, sliding back towards the 30s while New Zealand First's at its highest rating in 23 years.

Yeah, well we'll believe that when we see the public polling.

But Peters, more than most political leaders, has good reason for feeling frustrated with the constant carping that he shouldn't be where he is today, the ignorance of callers who say he's holding the country to ransom.

Peters has suffered more personal vitriolic abuse than anyone in politics, like the listener who told him when he was on ZB talkback 10 years ago that he was a despicable political prostitute and expressing the hope that he'd soon be assigned to the dustbin of history.

Well he hasn't been and whether they like it or not, he's where he is because that's what the electorate delivered, it's called the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system which makes it almost impossible for the major parties to command an outright majority.

The system's been in place for 22 years and it's high time voters got used to it - rather than throwing hissy fits at what was a legitimate election result - and take a bit of time to reflect on what this small, powerful party has managed to achieve over the years.