Unfortunately for Ngaro, he didn\u2019t introduce himself at the start of his speech and had to say his name when several in the crowd asked who he was.<\/p>\n
Former National minister Alfred Ngaro will stand as a candidate for New Zealand First in this year\u2019s election, an announcement made ahead of Winston Peters\u2019 State of the Nation speech. Photo \/ RNZ<\/p>\n
Energy was one of Peters\u2019 key themes, confirming NZ First would campaign on splitting up the energy gentailers (generators and retailers) so \u201cthey can no longer control both the power and the price\u201d.<\/p>\n
Peters and Jones in particular had long criticised the gentailers. Jones has already promised the party would campaign on breaking them up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big four power companies control almost 90% of the electricity generation and then sell it back to themselves,\u201d Peters said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes it very\u202fdifficult for innovative and low-cost retailers to enter the market \u2013 which means prices stay high.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peters said he would guarantee long-term, fixed-price contracts for new-build generation projects to give investors certainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will mean more power stations. More renewable energy. More competition. More resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you generate power at home like solar, you should be able to sell it back to the grid at the same price you pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other topics canvassed by Peters included his opposition to Fonterra\u2019s decision to sell its consumer and associated businesses to Lactalis, the India free trade deal, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid pandemic, criticism of suggestions New Zealand should sell off assets including its Air New Zealand shares, and the World Health Organisation.<\/p>\n
Former National MP Alfred Ngaro.<\/p>\n
Peters spent some time taking shots at his political rivals, particularly those on the left with sections of his speech dedicated to Labour, the Green Party and Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n
However, he did include criticism of National, repeating comments he had made in previous speeches, referencing parties that promised to resolve the cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been open \u2013 and when other parties at the last election said that they could fix it within three years \u2013 we said that was a mistake, we knew the damage done to the economy by the previous Labour Government couldn\u2019t be undone in three years.<\/p>\n
Peters accepted the economy \u201cisn\u2019t where it should be\u201d, pointing to the Middle East conflict between US-Israel and Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yet stability in the Middle East is likely to be restored more quickly than New Zealand\u2019s economic return to recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
The venue\u2019s main room had capacity for 600 people, with space for about 200 in two overflow rooms.<\/p>\n
Prior to the event, the party was informed by local police to anticipate protests from the Palestine Solidarity Network and Brian Tamaki\u2019s Destiny Church, including Tamaki himself.<\/p>\n
Destiny Church members gathered outside the venue were protesting Fisheries Minister Shane Jones\u2019 recreational fishing reform, claiming he was friendly to commercial fishing outfits. <\/p>\n
Jones came out and briefly engaged with protesters, having a robust exchange with Tamaki\u2019s assistant Jenny Marshall over her fears for the fate of recreational anglers.<\/p>\n
NZ First minister and deputy leader Shane Jones (centre) comes out to meet protesters at the State of the Nation address. Photo \/ Adam Pearse<\/p>\n
Private security, as well as members of the Diplomatic Protection Service who provide security for politicians, were being briefed this morning ahead of the event.<\/p>\n
Peters\u2019 party events have often been subject to protests. At the party\u2019s conference in 2024, Peters had to be whisked away from the crowd after a speech due to persistent protesters challenging the Government\u2019s stance on the Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n
No protests occurred during Peters\u2019 speech, which lasted almost 70 minutes. <\/p>\n
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald\u2019s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whang\u0101rei and the Herald in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unfortunately for Ngaro, he didn\u2019t introduce himself at the start of his speech and had to say his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3017,182493,9344,19956,5903,1888,2082,2740,1362,6722,13611,3556,111,43,139,182494,69,1118,6729,9345,14446,13672,223,1961,61,1533,6728,1530,80],"class_list":["post-341690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-ahead","tag-alfred","tag-announcement","tag-candidate","tag-election","tag-first","tag-for","tag-former","tag-made","tag-minister","tag-nation","tag-national","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-ngaro","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-peters","tag-speech","tag-stand","tag-state","tag-the","tag-this","tag-to","tag-will","tag-winston","tag-years","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}