NZ First officially launches its election campaign

There were formalities to attend to, policies to announce and a culture war to wage, writes Henry Oliver in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.

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New Zealand First held its annual conference and election campaign launch in Auckland over the weekend, with around 380 delegates attending the convention on Saturday, followed by a larger campaign event at the Due Drop Events Centre in Manukau on Sunday. The timing was good for Winston Peters, Shane Jones and their increasing ranks of major party defectors: the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll had the party at 11.5% (its third consecutive rise and its best result in nearly a decade) while National slumped to 28.7%, its lowest under Luxon.

There were formalities to attend to – the party listed its candidates, presented a coalition agreement report, and voted on remits including merit-based university admissions, protection of parliamentary sovereignty from international agreements, and a reaffirmation of “one law for all New Zealanders” – but also policy to announce and a culture war to wage.

A party of defectors – from both sides

RNZ’s Lillian Hanly reported that the conference drew a striking coalition of former National and Labour supporters. “Granddad was blue, dad was blue, I was blue until I woke up,” one delegate told RNZ. Another said National was “too weak” on policy; a third cited concerns about vaccine mandates and medical autonomy. Peters attributed the drift from National to his party’s focus on nationalism “with a capital N.”

New candidates included former National MPs Alfred Ngaro and Harete Hipango-Brownlie, former Labour minister Stuart Nash, and Michael Laws. Former Labour minister Rino Tirikatene also confirmed he had joined the party, citing alignment with its principles and his personal connections to Peters and Jones, though said he would not be standing for parliament.

A big policy announcement – and another contradiction

The headline policy announcement was a $1bn commitment to a “National Subsurface Development Survey” to map offshore oil and gas reserves, Stuff’s Jenna Lynch reported. Peters framed it as a response to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, calling fuel insecurity “one of the most concerning issues facing New Zealand,” arguing that New Zealand’s deep sea basins have “world-class potential” that had never been accurately surveyed. He claimed the odds of a major commercial discovery were over 90%, and promised that within six years New Zealand could potentially own and control its own energy supply, with royalties eventually exceeding 50% on extractions.

The announcement immediately received a pointed rebuttal from energy minister Simeon Brown, who noted Peters was part of the 2017 Labour-led government that banned offshore oil and gas exploration. Another example, perhaps, of Winston Peters turning on legislation he once voted for.

‘A ridiculous level of obsequiousness’

The Post’s Anneke Smith reported that NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones drew cheers from the conference crowd when he called on other political parties to “take off your knee pads” when dealing with India – a reference to the Spark Arena rally for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month. He told The Post the comment was a “common expression” he’d used to highlight “a ridiculous level of obsequiousness.”

National said Jones’s comment was “weird and his explanation is even weirder,” while Labour’s Vanushi Walters said divisive comments targeting migrant communities were “completely unacceptable” and the Greens’ Marama Davidson accused NZ First of “dog-whistling and scapegoating migrants.”

‘Getting fluoride out of the water’

The Spinoff’s Hayden Donnell attended Sunday’s campaign launch and his in-room account is a telling guide to the party’s most fervent supporters. Economically populist policies – breaking up the supermarket duopoly, splitting the gentailers – got polite claps. Removing fluoride from the water supply got wild applause. An advocacy for a government inquiry into vaccine injuries prompted cheering; mentions of the UN drew boos; Peters’ promise to get “men out of women’s sports” was one of the loudest applause lines.

Donnell noted the venue was only about 70% full, suggesting those present were “the hardest of the hardcore.” Peters told reporters there were “800 plus” in attendance; several reporters pushed back that the number seemed impossible. He didn’t budge. “Sometimes you just have to adopt the position that confers the most political advantage during an election campaign,” Donnell writes. “The truth can be secondary.”

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