Merepeka Raukawa-Tait: Winston preaches to his crowd

Winston Peters still has the ability to make the party faithful listen. Photo / Ben Fraser

The New Zealand First political party has no equal. It has no peers. So said its leader, the Honourable Winston Peters, this weekend at the party conference in Rotorua. I attended the final session that was open to the public.

Winston was in fine form, as I suspect he mostly is when talking to party members. But for those of us who went along to hear what he had to say about the current social and economic lie of the land, there appeared to be a real sense of urgency to what Winston was spelling out. He wanted those present to understand the clock is ticking for New Zealand. He outlined many of the issues that probably everyone in the room could relate to.

Whether a farming family, an employer, young parents, or someone currently unemployed Winston gave it to us with both barrels.

He aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata. What is the most important thing in the world, it is people, it is people, it is people. He quoted this often heard Maori whakatauki. According to Winston it is not people who are important to the Government. Quite the opposite. He reeled off their policies that over the years have eroded and undermined family life in New Zealand as we had once knew it. He scoffed at the so-called "rock star" economy. Tell that to New Zealanders who have no jobs, no houses and no prospects.

He went further. New Zealanders need hope. Something the Government failed to grasp. Planet Key, he says, is not where New Zealanders want to live.

I was surprised at the cross-section of ages of those present. New Zealand First has often been referred to derogatorily as the grey brigade.

You can forget that description. Winston was accompanied into the conference by a group of young people. They may be the party's youth wing. And there seemed to be about the same mix of male and female in the audience.

Winston thanked the members for their hard work over the last 12 months. But he wants more. He said the party had talent and real commitment and the time was right for a more concerted push to bring about change.

"Look at our name, that's what we're about. New Zealand and New Zealanders first."

It was what Winston said and his focus on securing a better future for New Zealand families stirred many in the audience.

Winston took the Government on. New Zealand needed a new "Kiwi deal" that allowed them to envision a future they could be part of.

Why five years after the Christchurch earthquake were we bringing overseas construction workers and other tradespeople into the country? We could have spent those years training our own workforce.

It's not as if reconstruction started two months after the earthquake. The Government must increase the happiness and opportunities for the maximum number of New Zealanders. Not just for a few corporate mates.

We heard that uncontrolled and unfocused immigration policy is not good for our country.

He talked at length about immigration consumption but urged those present not to blame immigrants.

It was the Government who brought them in. At the expense of houses and jobs for New Zealanders. Immigration, regional neglect and the plight of dairy farmers is where he chose to level the most criticism.

He said National was the farmers' party but look how they have been abandoned. The Government's reluctance to change the Reserve Bank Act to ensure our dollar is export competitive demonstrates a false mindset. He believes the misery that many dairy farmers will experience over the next seven years was preventable. Some will not survive.

Credit lines are drying up by the overseas owners of our banks. Government's ineptitude has sabotaged rural New Zealand.

Prisons got an airing too.

Their management should not be contracted out.

Prisons should remain the responsibility of the Government. You don't let the inmates take over the jail house. Contractors are only interested in profit.

What do they care if inmates hurt each other and themselves? Where is the genuine attempt to reform and reintegrate prisoners into society? A private prison is just not interested.

Winston was impressive. After 25 years as leader of New Zealand First, he has probably seen and heard more shades of manufactured truth than anyone else in Parliament.

I also suspect he knows where most of the bodies are buried. Of course he was talking to party faithful. Delegates and members. But there was a good number of people who took the opportunity to attend the session to hear for themselves what a New Zealand First future will look like.

From the applause and murmurings I heard around me, his message got through.

-Merepeka lives in Rotorua. She writes, speaks and broadcasts to thwart the spread of political correctness