17 June 2002
Stopping Our Sleepwalk To The Third World: Fixing Three Things In Three Years
Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Election Campaign Opening Address
Baycourt, Tauranga
12.15pm Monday 17 June, 2002
Over the years it has been a privilege to serve as your MP and to have the strong support from the people of Tauranga
and Mount Maunganui and the region.
Working together we have been able to achieve much for our city and country.
Ladies and Gentlemen, a sitting MP should stand on his record.
The city knows what has been achieved for increased funding for local schools, health facilities and by legislation for
bridges and roading.
Through electorate clinics thousands of people have been helped in a more personal way.
This is not to recite a litany of accomplishments - the facts speak for themselves -and please pick up a copy of some of
these accomplishments when you leave the hall. When our desperate opponents ask “what has your MP done for the
electorate?” please tell them. There is too much happening in this city for a novice to start now, learning on the job
at your expense, or an academic pushing policies totally out of touch with us and the ordinary New Zealander.
What can be said without dispute is that when New Zealanders from Bluff to the Cape are asked what constituency your MP
represents they know the answer and it is immediate - “it’s Tauranga!” Likewise they know who Tauranga’s MP is.
And the citizens of this city know that, re-elected, the promotion of the interests of this electorate will go on with
the same conviction and commitment that I always have.
And that is why, if you vote in the Tauranga electorate we are asking you to cast your constituency and party vote in
favour of Winston Peters and New Zealand First.
This is a great city and a great constituency.
Politically it is the most important constituency in New Zealand.
How Tauranga Votes on 27 July will greatly influence the outcome of this election and through you the future of our
country.
If ever there were a constituency where every vote counts - both constituency and party vote - this is it.
And Labour and National know it.
They know that New Zealand First stands for key issues.
They know we always have.
They know that New Zealand First represents the real interests of hundreds of thousands of forgotten New Zealanders.
They will do all they can to extinguish our voice.
That is why Tauranga electors can expect an onslaught of propaganda by the political establishment over the next 6
weeks.
Ladies and Gentlemen we have one of the shortest electoral cycles in the world but now we face a winter election that
cuts that shorter still.
Anyone who saw the discomfort on Helen Clark’s face last Tuesday, as she sadly sought to justify Labour’s decision to
call an early election could see she did not believe a word of it.
She knew Labour’s excuses were spurious and blatant political opportunism.
A cynical attempt to manipulate a snap election to suit Labour’s ambition to rule alone.
The strategy is patently obvious - close down democratic scrutiny, ambush the electorate and grab total control of
Parliament.
The setting differs but Labour’s desire to rule alone is born of the same paranoia they accused ad nauseum Muldoon of.
But New Zealanders are not that gullible
Just remember what happened the last time Labour or National monopolised Parliament?
The havoc they wreaked on our country we are still trying to recover from.
That was why the people of New Zealand voted for MMP - to stop unbridled power, to stop public asset sales- between them
Labour and National sold $18b of assets, to stop hospital closures - between them Labour and National closed down 72
hospitals, and Helen Clark closed 29 by herself, and to stop mindless interminable restructuring that saw huge benefits
under Labour and National for the few at the great cost of the many.
Look at your interest and credit costs, your electricity and transport bills these last sixteen years and say it isn’t
so.
New Zealanders will smell the proverbial rodent lurking around this election.
We have been down this road before - because this election looks like a con job where Labour wants to hustle back into
power before anyone really notices what they are up to.
Labour’s social policy plans can’t face a long election campaign - something is not being said - there is a hidden
agenda.
And isn’t it a paradox how many third world countries have one-party governments?
That’s why we are having a snap election.
In this campaign we will remind you how serious the economic position in this country is. Look no further than the
comparison between what each New Zealander, man, woman, and child, exports and that for each Singaporean or Irishman.
Each Singaporean exports $(US)34,000 per year, each Irishman $(US)19,000 and each New Zealander way less than
$(US)4,000.
That’s why we can’t pay for our old, our sick, our teachers and our students, our defence on our borders, and safety in
our streets.
We’re sleep-walking to the third world.
Look at the international comparisons of similar countries in population and resources and say it isn’t so.
People ask: “Why have you been quiet lately?” That’s true. But the reason is that this election is part of an historic
political sea-change that occurs in New Zealand once every fifty to sixty years.
National is in deep trouble and faces again its worst defeat in its history.
You see National has long forgotten what its name means and their policies betray what the word “national’ once stood
for.
Their supporters here and across New Zealand are in disarray as they witness political representation filled with
globalists and acolytes of One World Order. And National’s policies and recent record in Government is no different from
Labour’s. You can’t expect New Zealanders to see any difference when National has the same policies and when National
has taken millions from the same financiers who gave millions to Labour to get the same policies.
Millions to Labour when Margaret Wilson was its President and millions to National when Michelle Boag was Fay
Richwhite’s publicity person. It is all true, it is all out now - and we all know it.
New Zealand First has been quietly getting ready for this election. We have known that New Zealand needs a responsible
opposition party, as we have been since 1999, supporting sound policies and opposing destructive ones. We have known
that National is no longer a real opposition party but a collection of carping, jealous politicians without principle or
integrity, merely envying the power of their opponents.
But Labour is not going to get enough votes to govern on its own and the election will come down to this.
Does New Zealand want the real second horse in this race to be the Greens?
- a prospect which by their own admission will make Government impossible within a year. A party for example which
joined National and Act to oppose the only New Zealand savings fund since 1975. A party which opposes trade, wants you
to walk to work, and thinks El Quaeda is the innocent party.
Does New Zealand want control by the Greens? We think not.
New Zealand needs a responsible and experienced third party to provide, as we have done when called upon for two and a
half years, a fair and balanced check on Government.
This election needs a theme - and New Zealand First will give it one.
This election is about the rights of ordinary Kiwis:
- The right to walk down the streets of this country in safety.
- The right of all New Zealanders to stand together as equals.
- The right to stop being swamped by a flood of immigrants
Because ladies and gentlemen these things matter:
- Safety from crime and violence,
- Being one people
- Control over who becomes a New Zealander
These issues define a nation.
They go to the very core of what this country is about.
New Zealand First sees these basic rights as threatened
And make no mistake the New Zealand we value is under threat from:
- rampant lawlessness
- a Treaty industry that foments racial division and discord
- a flood of immigrants totally without parallel in any first world country
Unless we act now the New Zealand we cherish - a special place - a decent place - a fortunate and blessed place -a land
of fair minded and tolerant people - will be irrevocably lost. Mistakes here are permanent. If we carry on this way they
can’t be fixed.
In this campaign New Zealand First will bring one quality lacking in our political opponents.
We bring plain speaking and common sense.
We will be sounding the alarm at how the basic rights of New Zealanders are under attack
And our message is to all New Zealanders
Because a strange paradox applies in this country
Often it is those who have most recently settled here who see most clearly what is at risk.
Over the coming weeks New Zealand First will be releasing detailed policy on a full range of issues that matter to New
Zealanders.
But today we are going to focus on the three key themes of our campaign
Three areas where we will fight for the rights of every New Zealander and fix them over the next three years. The first
is:
Law and Order
We say it is a basic right of every New Zealander to live in safety and security.
Because a life that has to be lived in the shadow of fear is intolerable in this country
The Government can play with words on levels of crime but ordinary New Zealanders have no illusions
This has become a crime ridden, ill disciplined and violent society
New Zealand must be the only country where delivering pizza is a high-risk occupation
Must we stand passively by while this descent into lawlessness continues?
New Zealand First says - No!
We offer no glib solution
But unlike our opponents who think solving growing lawlessness is about getting the ideology right. The New Zealand
First approach is based on common sense.
- we will use all the weapons in the armoury to fight crime
That means action on:
Prevention - to address the underlying and root causes of delinquency
Apprehension - that means having the police numbers and with the powers and the equipment they need to do the job
Just punishment
Rehabilitation
The plain fact is that too many in our society turn to crime - and all the sociologists, policy analysts and
criminologists combined are not going to stop that.
This Government has been big on research, discussion and consultation about crime.
But law and order is not an academic exercise -
- It is fear of going out on the streets at night
- It is senseless random violence
- It is about burglaries being so common that police can no longer investigate them
We have to stop this break down of civil society now!
The ACT party won’t. We saw its Leader on television last night: the crims in prison will be saying “if he can’t
pronounce “prioritise’ then he won’t be dealing to us.’
New Zealand First will go right to the heart of why so many of our young people drift into crime
New Zealand cannot allow its young people to grow up without jobs, self-discipline or direction - that is a recipe for
disaster
For that reason we will introduce military or community service training for the young unemployed and for some first
time offenders, to foster discipline and self-esteem and bring order into their lives
We know it is an idea the chattering classes will dismiss with contempt.
They are scornful of anything that smacks of the direct approach - their preference is “therapy.”
Ladies and Gentlemen
Ask yourselves:
Do you have the right to safety and security, should our old people and our children also be safe and secure?
Can we fix it?
If your answer is “yes’ then vote for the one party that will - New Zealand First.
Treaty of Waitangi
The second area of New Zealand First’s election campaign is to derail the
tribally divisive, racially divisive Treaty of Waitangi industry.
The Treaty should be New Zealand’s Magna Carta -our Gettysburg address
Instead it has been perverted and hijacked to the advantage of a few. I said it would be the day I first saw it and I’ve
said it every year since. The critics know that - so why are they trying to portray that as something new.
There is an old fashioned word to explain the motivation of those who have thrived on the Treaty industry - a plain and
simple word - and that word is greed.
Why bother to be enterprising, to take risks, to build something worthwhile?
The new way to wealth in this country is by joining the multi-million dollar grievance industry that has formed like a
thicket around the Treaty.
If other New Zealand industries had expanded like the Treaty Industry we would be at the top of the OECD league tables.
Now!
Over the past 15 years the Treaty has become a gravy train for a lucky few. A gravy train built by Labour when Prebble
and Shirley were its Ministers. A gravy train with numerous carriages added on by National. Yesterday’s Sunday papers
carried a full page advertisement from National promising “to settle past Treaty claims by 2008’.
In 1990 they promised to do all that by the year 2000. Now they expect you to believe that the co-architects of this
mess can be trusted to sort it out. They can’t and they won’t. They haven’t got the understanding or the courage. They
have no vision of a cohesive, united New Zealand and those few on this gravy train are in no hurry to have this
lucrative train reach a destination!
The infiltration of so-called Treaty principles into every facet of New Zealand law and life is a racket.
What it means is that almost anything can be demanded, asserted or claimed, however spurious, if a tenuous link to the
Treaty can be established.
And believe me many of the best legal minds and consultants in the country are devoting their time and energy and your
money to doing just that!
You know that we have repeatedly challenged the Government to spell out what the Treaty actually means
To tell the country in plain English what these mystical Treaty principles are.
They cannot answer - they just assert -it’s a “living document.”
In other words, The Treaty means whatever we want it to mean
This is flim flam.
Our critics have dismissed New Zealand First’s warnings on the Treaty for years.
Many say: “Winston - we agree this Treaty Industry is pointless tokenism that squanders millions of dollars but does it
really matter?
We challenge such complacency.
The Treaty is much more than just a geyser of taxpayer money - it is a dangerous, insidious and destructive cancer
affecting the heart of our constitution and legal system
The Treaty Industry already resembles the Grand Inquisition - in its capacity to infiltrate and colour every aspect of
New Zealand life - in its capacity to silence its critics - and to cast a blanket of political correctness over this
country.
Whoever dares to criticise the Treaty is vilified.
Anyone in public life in this country is expected to genuflect to the Treaty.
In Government departments and agencies they are spending thousands of hours developing strategies and plans to uphold
and implement its sacred but unknowable “principles”.
There are over 30 pieces of major legislation that refer to the Treaty or its principles -and in terms of secondary
legislation there are many more.
The only result of polluting our laws with meaningless references to the Treaty is to sow the seeds of endless confusion
and mischief making.
The Treaty is one of those issues like Law and Order and Immigration where the political establishment and their big
city media mates close ranks. They are in an unholy pact to cover up what is really going on.
The real tragedy of the Treaty Industry is that it rides on the back of a genuine issue:
- the situation facing Maori.
One of the predictable tactics of our critics is to slander us with the accusation of Maori bashing.
That is a tactic Dr Goebbels would have been proud of.
The truth is completely different
Anyone who has the slightest concern for the situation of Maori can see that the Treaty Industry has brought the mass
majority of Maori nothing. Not a snapper, not an inch of land, not a dollar in value.
What it has done is divert attention from the real issues - the educational, employment, housing and heath status of
Maori.
And it is having the most pernicious and destructive effect on race relations - and it is Maori that have the most to
lose from this deterioration
Ladies and Gentlemen
Is the Treaty Industry in the interests of this country?
Can we fix it?
If your answer is yes then vote New Zealand First .
Immigration
The third issue that will be central to our campaign is immigration
Let me put a couple of numbers before you
53,000
55,000
53,000 is the number of people who will gain permanent residence in New Zealand this financial year.
55,000 is roughly the number of children being born in NEW ZEALAND every year.
In other words almost as many immigrants are being granted New Zealand residency as are being born here.
Relative to our size, no country in the world involuntarily allows anywhere near that scale of influx.
New Zealand has the population of a crowded suburb in Shanghai - but we seem to believe we can run an open door
immigration policy.
The fact is that immigration is out of control.
Already 1 in 5 New Zealanders was born overseas and that figure soars to 1 in 3 in our main population centre - the
Auckland region.
That alarms New Zealand First - it ought to alarm all New Zealanders.
If you want an explanation for this disastrous situation -
look no further than who has been in charge of our immigration policy.
Under both Labour and National the New Zealand Immigration Service has been a by-word for incompetence.
Without thought, reflection or vision - and certainly without a mandate from the people of New Zealand - National and
Labour have chosen to squander New Zealand’s birthright
Our proud New Zealand birthright - and they have been handing out citizenship like lotto tickets.
The administration of our immigration law has become a shambles
We know that there was an estimated 14,000 over-stayers under National which has become 20,000 over-stayers under Labour
but even that appalling statistic does not tell the full story
Our immigration laws have become a mockery
Just this weekend the media carried reports of an Indian convicted, imprisoned and deported for sex offences who has
bypassed immigration controls and returned to this country. The press reported that this individual returned to New
Zealand using a false name and then married his sister in law. On the basis of this marriage he gained permanent
residency.
Here is another illustration.
Wellington’s Dominion on 7 June reported that the Immigration Service had unsuccessfully investigated “numerous” alleged
marriage scams, where family members gain entry to NEW ZEALAND on the basis of a purported marriage.
The paper went on to say that a South Auckland man - who incidentally was a Sikh - said he had notified Immigration and
Government Ministers about eight instances of Indian immigrants marrying their own sisters or in-laws under different
names to get them into NEW ZEALAND.
The Dominion also reported that the Immigration Service manager responsible said the department had investigated
numerous complaints but had not found enough evidence to prosecute anyone in the past year.
And today almost a sixth of our HIV virus or Aids sufferers are African immigrants. We will go on paying for this sadly
for the rest of their lives.
We do not condemn people for wanting to come to New Zealand
In their shoes who could blame them?
We do castigate the ineptitude of this Government and immigration officials for allowing rampant abuse of our law.
Compare New Zealand’s stance on immigration to that of Australia.
Everyone knows where Australia stands.
They have taken a stand and declared that Australia is not a soft touch.
Australia will decide how many and who will have the privilege of becoming new Australians.
In short Australia has a real immigration policy - seven times our size, they take in less than one and half times the
number we let in.
Last year immigration was at the forefront of their election
And it will be the same here too.
Despite the wish of the political establishment to keep their heads firmly buried in the sand.
We will campaign on;
- A drastic cut in the number of immigrants
- Strict criteria for entry that require migrants to bring economic benefit to NEW ZEALAND
- An end to the shambolic administration that renders our immigration laws a farce
- Severe penalties for any who attempt to evade or circumvent entry rules
- A probationary period for all migrants of three years during which if they are convicted of a crime punishable by
prison the right of entry will be revoked. And they will be sent home.
Immigration is out of control.
Can we fix it?
If the answer is yes then vote New Zealand First.
Ladies and Gentlemen -
The issues we are raising in this election will be relentlessly attacked by the political establishment for we are in
one corner on these issues and the record of all the other political parties has been in the other corner.
These issues are not new to me or my party.
For 15 years my critics have called me a Maori basher and then a racist. Well if standing up for the ordinary New
Zealander, Maori or European, is Maori bashing and racist., if standing up for our society, our values and traditions,
and a cohesive united country is Maori bashing and racist or xenophobic then the plea is GUILTY.
The road that New Zealand First is taking is the opposite direction to where prevailing political correctness leads.
But we are told:
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven;
A time to keep silence - and a time to speak.
Ladies and Gentlemen if ever there was a time to speak out it is now.
New Zealand First makes three pledges to you and the people of New Zealand. We won’t fix everything but we will fix up
three things in the next three years:.
We will
- restore safety to the streets of NEW ZEALAND
- derail the Treaty Industry
- put the brakes on senseless immigration
Three questions that we will be taking to the people of this country:
Do you want to live in safety and security?
Do you want equality for all New Zealanders?
Do you want an end to out of control immigration?
Can we fix it?
Yes we can!
Can we fix it?
Yes we can!
Can we fix it?
Yes we can!
That is the mission.
That is our mission.
ENDS