tried to define a woman in a way that risked destroying any possible political comeback<\/a>. <\/p>\nIt\u2019s unclear whether redemption is possible for Nash within NZ First, given his comments would stick to him in a campaign and aggravate half of the voting public. <\/p>\n
Ngaro, while no stranger to controversy, presented as a polished politician who seemed comfortable under a spotlight. <\/p>\n
It turns out Peters had asked him about joining NZ First in 2023, but by then, Ngaro had already started the NewZeal party; today saying he wanted to stand by his commitment to supporters. <\/p>\n
After the election, in which NewZeal received 0.56% of the vote, Ngaro said it wasn\u2019t until last year that the conversation reignited. <\/p>\n
![\"Alfred]()
Alfred Ngaro stood as leader of the NewZeal party in 2023. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
He kept it quiet, claiming he didn\u2019t mention it to any of his former National Party colleagues at Mark Mitchell\u2019s wedding last week. <\/p>\n
Ngaro, a Christian conservative, provides a connection to a religious voting bloc; references to God and the \u201cgood book\u201d featured in his few minutes on stage. <\/p>\n
It also doesn\u2019t hurt that both he and Nash have some level of public profile, helping reinforce NZ First\u2019s growing support in the polls. <\/p>\n
But what he and Nash offer NZ First is experience, and it\u2019s an issue NZ First is seeking to solve. <\/p>\n
Since the beginning of the year, all major pollsters have NZ First securing 9-11%. That\u2019s roughly 4-6 more seats in Parliament and, if in government, potentially more places around the Cabinet table. <\/p>\n
Aside from Peters and Shane Jones, the party\u2019s current caucus lacks central government experience, noting first-term MP and Cabinet minister Casey Costello has been able to survive significant hurdles thus far.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s prompted speculation that former NZ First identities might make a return to balance some of the more fresh-faced MPs, particularly if the party is on the way up. <\/p>\n
Whether Ngaro or Nash are in the mix for a potential ministerial position is not yet known, but they would provide value within an inexperienced caucus. <\/p>\n
![\"NZ]()
NZ First leader Winston Peters said Ngaro’s experience was valuable. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Asked how Ngaro could appeal to people, Peters first pointed to his experience as a Cabinet minister and later promised more candidate announcements to follow. <\/p>\n
Ngaro\u2019s candidacy was the sole surprise of Peters\u2019 State of the Nation, which seemed more of a scene-setter than an attempt to break new ground. <\/p>\n
The campaign policy \u201cannouncement\u201d was more of a re-announcement of the party\u2019s intention to break-up the energy gentailers, but bolstered by promises of long-term, fixed-price contracts for new-build generation projects and regulating a higher price for people generating energy through solar and selling it back to the grid. <\/p>\n
The speech, which lasted almost 70 minutes, hit all the usual notes; the state of the economy (including his finger-wagging at National for promising to solve the cost-of-living crisis), Covid-19, the World Health Organisation, criticism of Labour, the Greens and Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, state assets and his opposition to the Fonterra deal. <\/p>\n
Immigration, specifically the Government\u2019s free trade deal with India which Peters\u2019 opposes, didn\u2019t feature until after an hour, despite being considered one of NZ First\u2019s core platforms. <\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t Peters\u2019 most polished performance. He accidentally said \u201csocialist\u201d while attempting to describe his party as socially conservative, drawing chuckles.<\/p>\n
He then declared NZ First was \u201cnationalist with a capital L\u201d, prompting some more laughs.<\/p>\n
Former Green Party co-leader Rod Donald was referred to as \u201cRod McDonald\u201d. He shouldn\u2019t be too offended, though; Peters acknowledged that despite all his flaws, Donald had \u201cpurpose and principles\u201d. <\/p>\n
As always, Peters\u2019 best moments were when he spoke off the cuff instead of from the page. <\/p>\n
Fortunately, he\u2019ll have plenty of opportunities to do just that as he ramps up his public meetings with just months until the election. <\/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":"It appears Ngaro may have been the victim of a last-minute scheduling change, which meant he was the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9980,3013,19956,124,36729,3278,4760,5338,111,10511,43,139,69,9981,6729,63559,4497,182603,6728],"class_list":["post-341910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-adam","tag-but","tag-candidate","tag-could","tag-dilemma","tag-facts","tag-firsts","tag-makes","tag-new-zealand","tag-newest","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pearse","tag-peters","tag-solve","tag-start","tag-stuttering","tag-winston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341910","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=341910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}