In a glitzy public meeting, which didn\u2019t draw the crowd the party would have hoped for, Winston Peters pledged NZ First would campaign on carrying out a survey of the oil and gas reserves New Zealand can tap into. <\/p>\n
These kinds of surveys don\u2019t come cheap, estimated at $1b over the next term of government. <\/p>\n
An ambitious timeline follows. Results that satisfy wealthy investors from across the globe are expected within a year, wells will be identified within two and six years, a \u201cpathway\u201d is established for New Zealand to \u201ccontrol our own supply of energy\u201d for domestic use and export. <\/p>\n
Securing the funding for the survey is the party\u2019s first challenge and will be fought in negotiations from November 8 if polls remain as they are. There are more than a few eyes on the $1b attributed to the Government\u2019s proposed LNG import terminal, which is yet to be signed off. <\/p>\n
One consideration is whether the policy has any hope of resulting in the final product NZ First is promoting. Unless Labour performs quite a spectacular U-turn, it\u2019s tools down the moment they take the reins. <\/p>\n
NZ First leader Winston Peters celebrates on stage at his campaign launch. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n
Perhaps NZ First\u2019s best hope is to secure a survey, even if it isn\u2019t as fulsome as originally envisioned, and use whatever data it returns to brandish at other parties and demand why we aren\u2019t tapping into available resources (presuming they do indeed exist). <\/p>\n
But another consideration, which appears just as important, concerns Paul Henry\u2019s new favourite word: vibes. <\/p>\n
News of a resumption of military action in the Middle East may not have come as a surprise to those who closely follow the months-long conflict. But in every depressing extension, it chips away at whatever hope was reserved for a return to normality. <\/p>\n
You\u2019d be forgiven for assuming this is the \u201cnew normal\u201d, a term Kiwis became familiar with in the Covid years; geopolitical conflict constantly causing havoc with global supply chains and hiking prices. <\/p>\n
This feeling increases the appeal of NZ First\u2019s policy, something that promises a country more resilient to those shocks, even if the policy\u2019s future is questionable at best. <\/p>\n
Peters called these voters the \u201chard-working blue-collar Kiwi battler\u201d; a theme (a vibe, if you will) that pervaded the party\u2019s annual convention in Auckland. <\/p>\n
His speech, a 45-minute address that could almost be described as brief compared to recent public meetings, was also intended to target two problems NZ First will face in this campaign; whether it will work with Labour and why it doesn\u2019t support the India FTA. <\/p>\n
The first, much to the frustration of the party, is primarily informed by their own coalition partners in National and Act, who are all too happy to feign a loss of sight and hearing to ignore Peters\u2019 repeated insistence he has ruled out working with Labour, which he felt necessary to establish again today. <\/p>\n
Winston Peters insists he will not work with Chris Hipkins. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell <\/p>\n
The second requires balancing the party\u2019s hard-line stance on immigration, which Shane Jones added to on Saturday by saying he would be calling out New Zealand\u2019s growing Indian population \u201cevery day\u201d, with an awareness of the benefits that can be derived, particularly in the primary sector, from trade deals with global giants like India. <\/p>\n
Fortunately for Peters, Indian PM Narendra Modi gave him all he needed to pivot from a messy, technical debate on the deal\u2019s immigration implications to a cleaner concern about the investment obligations placed on New Zealand. <\/p>\n
With Modi characterising the $33b of investment from New Zealand into India in 15 years as a commitment instead of an aim as the deal states, he legitimised concern expressed by Peters about the potential for Kiwi exporters to be punished. <\/p>\n
Despite their prominence, those topics weren\u2019t what drew the greatest reaction from the crowd. That was reserved for the party\u2019s efforts to call for an inquiry into vaccine injuries and its positions on transgender women in female sports. <\/p>\n
As he emerged to sparklers and flashy lights, Peters might have been irked by an unfamiliar sight: rows of empty seats. <\/p>\n
The party takes pride in its \u201cstanding room only\u201d proclamations following packed public meetings. This time around, about 500 seats weren\u2019t filled as almost 400 party delegates and an equal number of members of the public came to the Manukau Due Drop Events Centre. Insufficient parking was being blamed with reports of people being turned away. <\/p>\n
This year\u2019s convention, in the party\u2019s 33rd, was less about policy and more about introducing its new political recruits to members. <\/p>\n
Former All Black Taine Randell gave a speech to members at the convention. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n
As such, guest speaking slots usually reserved for those outside the party were given to five of NZ First\u2019s recent converts: Stuart Nash, Alfred Ngaro, Harete Hipango-Brownlie, Taine Randell and Michael Laws. <\/p>\n
Despite the political profile of the first three names on that list, it was Randell and Laws that the members appeared most energised by. <\/p>\n
There is no doubt the value former ministers in Nash and Ngaro bring to the party, particularly as it eyes greater influence in a future government.<\/p>\n
However, in Randell the party has someone whose discomfort in front of a microphone lends itself to a genuine reflection of NZ First ideals. <\/p>\n
While he struggles to clearly articulate his points at times and does pose a risk should he come under heavy scrutiny, Randell is distinct from the likes of Nash and Ngaro insofar as his comments don\u2019t appear as simply repetition of the party political lines. <\/p>\n
Laws, a broadcaster who seems destined to be beset by comparisons to Henry, gave the most engaging address and leaned on his political strategist experience to reinforce the party\u2019s focus on \u201cordinary\u201d people. <\/p>\n
Laws could end up being quite the asset to NZ First in that he\u2019s no stranger to the more fringe issues held dearly by some party factions but can also deliver a convincing argument for NZ First\u2019s central pitch at this election. <\/p>\n
Former broadcaster Michael Laws gave an engaging address. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not often an NZ First convention goes by with Shane Jones making headlines and this year was no exception. <\/p>\n
In what is becoming a habit, the deputy leader took not-so-subtle aim at Christopher Luxon, this time for his hugging and hand-holding with Modi last weekend, suggesting political leaders take off their \u201ckneepads\u201d when meeting foreign leaders. <\/p>\n
He also poked fun at the party\u2019s new candidates, likening Laws to Gandalf and highlighting Nash\u2019s reputation in the gym and his former practice of dyeing his hair. <\/p>\n
It might have come across as friendly banter to the members, but it certainly had an air of marking one\u2019s territory in an election becoming congested with big personalities. <\/p>\n
The polls are promising a bright future for NZ First come November 7. What comes after is another question entirely. <\/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":"In a glitzy public meeting, which didn\u2019t draw the crowd the party would have hoped for, Winston Peters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9980,263220,3278,4760,194,111,43,139,69,1118,56707,9981,6725,23853,223,61,17217,377],"class_list":["post-533431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-adam","tag-battler","tag-facts","tag-firsts","tag-kiwi","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-ordinary","tag-pearse","tag-pitch","tag-scared","tag-the","tag-to","tag-whos","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533431","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=533431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}