EMBARGOED AGAINST DELIVERY

Rt. Hon Winston Peters
Leader NZ First

Address: Public Meeting

Date: November 6 2011

Time: 1pm

Venue: Kelston Community Centre
Corner St North Rd and Awaroa Rd, Kelston

The Real Issues - NZ First Coalition Position

The real issues of this election are being hidden under a babble of opinions, sound bites, photo opportunities and intense media speculation.

Every day there seems to be a new opinion poll and a new government stitched together to run the country for the next three years.

This is a lot easier than explaining what is happening and what it means for the vast majority of New Zealanders.

There will be no turning back after this election.

What happens over the next three years will set a defining course for this country.

Some of the decisions that have been made and could be made fill me with fear for the future.

That is the only reason I am seeking re-election to Parliament. The easy option would have been to head the bach and take it easy!

These are the prime issues facing us, and they are interlocked.

1. The first - is the sale of our assets and our farmland (and coastline) to foreign interests.

We cannot belong to a country that we do not own.

We cannot prosper if our industry, our power stations, our roads, our banks, our shops and our service stations are all owned somewhere else.

Profits are sucked out of the country and this becomes a permanent loss.

All the decisions are made somewhere else. We lose control as well as the money.

It is no coincidence that New Zealand’s downward slide gathered momentum during the eighties and nineties when Labour and National sold our state assets at giveaway prices.

However, it’s not just state owned assets that are threatened over the next three years.

After this election the government will approve the sale of thousands of hectares of prime dairy land to a company owned by the communist government of China.

The Crafar Farms sale contract has been before the Overseas Investment Office for over eight months – just waiting for the election.

You would think this was important enough for some sort of coverage in the media.

But if you look at Wellington’s DomPost yesterday the front page discussed the “blokieness” of John Key and Phil Goff and asked whether or not they sang in the bath!

That is how far this election has been trivialized.

2. The second major issue we face is the constitutional review decided on by National and the Maori Party.

Behind the scenes a constitutional committee is drafting a new constitution for New Zealand with the Treaty of Waitangi as it's cornerstone.

There has been no public demand for this. People were not marching in the streets.

And let’s face it. Despite its human imperfections the system that was set up to govern us is based on freedom and fairness.

As a country we have always believed in these principles.

We do not need or want a system based on a well-intentioned, three clause document signed in 1840.

The Treaty is not a binding legal document.

It cannot and must not be used in a constitution or indeed in any legislation apart from the specific cases that try to redress the worst excesses of colonization.

When the constitution issue is combined with the United Nations Indigenous Peoples Declaration it creates a dangerous situation for our democracy.
Remember this declaration was signed in the dead of night at the United Nations in New York

It was done with the utmost secrecy.

The people were never consulted. It was a deliberate act by the National Party and the Maori Party.

This declaration says that in a dispute over New Zealand laws some New Zealander's rights override the rights of others.

And in time this is going to be written into our laws.

There is a huge contradiction here. National is imposing a system that belongs to history and not 21st century democratic New Zealand.

Remember, Maori did not have democracy. They had a tribal feudal system. And now the concept of that feudal system is sneaking into the foundations of a new constitution.

This is the final step on the road to separatism. This is the road to Zimbabwe.

As you know, under National New Zealand now has two flags. One that thousands of New Zealanders died for and the other for the Maori Party.

Surely you can see a pattern here!

3. The third - part of this unholy trinity, is the foreshore and seabed issue. National repealed the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act. Then passed laws that said nobody owns it but some New Zealanders could claim title to it.

This is also being sorted out behind closed doors.

Ownership in the form of customary title is being passed from all New Zealanders to a select few.

And you, whatever your background, whether non Maori or Maori, have no say in this.

You have been sucked into this appalling sellout of your heritage while the media talk about political leaders singing in the bath.

These three issues go right to the heart of who we are and whether we belong in our own country.

Many of the things that a government does can be changed later by another government but not those that I have just spoken about.

1. When our country has been sold we will not be able to take it back without starting a revolution.

2. When our democratic political and constitutional systems have been overturned and replaced with one based on the Treaty of Waitangi our voices will be lost.

3. And when much of your foreshore and seabed has been privatized and divvied up in Treaty claims you will never get it back. It is lost forever.
We are staring these facts in the face. And that is why New Zealand First is putting its cards on the table today.

Until now we have waited until the return of votes on Election Day to decide on post-election arrangements.

However, persistent public speculation in the wake of misleading opinion polls requires an announcement sooner rather than later.

Party members have made their views very clear about where they want New Zealand First to be after the election. And here it is.

New Zealand First is not going with National.

New Zealand First is not going with Labour either. We are making that clear here today.

New Zealand First is not going with the Greens or the Maori Party.

There is too much at stake.

Do you know the Greens policy on the Treaty?

Here it is …”We are committed to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the living constitutional document of Aotearoa.”

They also want a separate Maori justice system.

We could not live with that!

They are another branch of the Maori Party.

So all those people lumping us in with groups and making us part of some fictitious coalition should stop right now.

We believe in the democratic process.

We believe in MMP because we’ve had a lot of experience on the wrong end of First Past the Post. You all have.

MMP is criticized by those who believe they have been born to rule but since this system was introduced, the party with the most votes has always formed the government.

We believe that the party that gets the most votes should try to form the next government.

But there’s one condition – the one safeguard that voters have – the one get out of jail card.

And that is do not let any political party in New Zealand govern alone under any circumstances. It is too dangerous!

Even in the National Party there are those that believe there needs to be checks and balances – that going it alone is dangerous for New Zealand.

The results of this election could be a lot closer than the so-called experts are picking.

Don’t forget that 20 days is a long time in politics.

It’s a bit early to break out the champagne at National Party headquarters.

But Labour has had a major mind block in Opposition.

For three years Labour has been too frightened to confront National on the three key points that I have spoken about.

It has not confronted National about the separatism, the insidious Treaty threat to democracy and the race based privatisation of the foreshore and seabed.

That’s because Labour and National are now in the same camp on these issues – along with the Greens and the Maori Party.

New Zealand First has never been in that camp.

And it’s all very well for Labour to bleat now about the sale of state assets. Labour sold billions of dollars worth of taxpayer assets.

National has two other fronts in this election. This is deliberate and no coincidence. One arrangement is public and that is the shambles of Epsom, the other one is secret and like Act backed by big money. But they are in the same camp as National and their loyalty is to National. They won’t oppose separatist policies that serve just a few among Maori.

So that leaves New Zealand First alone. All the other parties are in the same Treaty addicted boat.

We say this.

You need more than an Opposition in parliament. You need an effective Opposition in Parliament. We have the credentials to be that effective Opposition.

We have the record. Our CV is second to none when it comes to holding the government of the day to account.

We will oppose any plan to privatise and sell New Zealand, and create a separate state within a state – all based on some mythical element of the Treaty of Waitangi.

If we want to belong in our own country and if we believe in equality and a fair go it’s our duty to stop these political vandals destroying our way of life.

The real battle of this election will start after November 26 when the enormity of the plans for New Zealand will see the light of day.

That’s when you will need New Zealand First. That’s when you will need the political street fighters on your side.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the position of Opposition is important.

It is not powerless. Used wisely a party can deliver on its election policies.

Used properly there is power in being the peoples’ voice.

The architects of democracy designed it to act this way.

New Zealand First stands for a fair go for all.

New Zealand First stands for New Zealanders first. All New Zealanders

Give us your PARTY VOTE and we’ll give you your voice back.

ENDS

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