Election 2020: NZ First leader Winston Peters tones down attacks on Labour in U-turn

NZ First Leader Winston Peters during his speech at Aotea Square in Auckland today. Photo / Brett Phibbs

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have changed his campaign tactics, shifting his focus from attacking Labour to embracing the wins of the coalition.

Speaking to a socially distanced crowd in Auckland's Aotea Square this afternoon, Peters' tone was noticeably different when talking about his coalition partners.

"During the last three years, we have run a very sound, competent Government and we have made huge investments in areas that have been neglected," he said.

He cited the work of the coalition Government after the March 15 terror attack, the Whakaari / White Island eruption and the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We handled it together as a Government – it was a combined effort."

This is in stark contrast to some of his recent comments in public meetings.

Just two weeks ago, he was referring to Labour as the "other side" when he was attacking some of its moves in Government, such as KiwiBuild and its light rail plans.

On numerous occasions, he has taken credit for making sure the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) didn't make it into law.

And in a speech at his party's campaign launch, he took aim at the inexperience of both Labour and the Greens.

"We have opposed woke pixie dust," he said at the time, before adding that NZ First has been "a handbrake for silly ideas".

Although he did take a quick swipe at KiwiBuild today, he was more focused on the "smart ideas" his party brought to the coalition table and didn't once mention any "silly ideas".

Peters' apparent change in rhetoric today comes after a string of bad poll results for his party.

In the most recent 1News/ Colmar Brunton poll, NZ First was on 1 per cent.

The party was on a similar level of support on the Newshub/ Reid Research poll released just a day before.

It has been more than a year since NZ First has publically polled at or above 5 per cent – the number the party needs to get back into Parliament.

Speaking to media after his speech, Peters pushed back on any suggestion he was not allowed to be critical of Labour's time in Government.

"The thing that you are imputing is that somehow if we criticise our coalition partner then we have been disloyal or uncooperative – that's nonsense."

Asked specifically about why he shifted tact today, he said: "We're all in this campaign, campaigning for the market share of politics for our party."