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AGENDA

Presented by RAWDON CHRISTIE

RAWDON There were more revelations yesterday about Winston Peters and his one time starter Ross Mourant of appearing to offer political favours for cash, this time from the fishing and racing entrepreneurs, the Vella family. During the campaign there have been more details of New Zealand First donor Owen Glenn's wish to be New Zealand Honorary Consul in Monaco. At the same time Mr Peters has revived his campaign against immigration calling for it to be cut to 10,000 migrants a year but he did say he would welcome Singaporean jockeys saying they were needed here because they were usefully born light. Mr Peters joins me now. Winston Peters you're down in the polls you’ve been under almost constant investigation for months what can you do now a week from the election to bring your support up to the level you need to get back into parliament?

WINSTON PETERS – Leader, New Zealand First

Well first of all we're not under constant investigation, we're the victim of an orchestrated campaign to take us out of the political equation, it started in July of this year and it's been going on with 47 front page stories, but every time we get a clearance from an independent examination it appears on about page six and barely there as well. 47 front line stories, front page from political motivation by various political parties, certain newspapers of which the Dom and the Herald have been the clarion call leader and we have on every independent investigation been cleared. Now, I trust New Zealanders to understand the kind of dirt campaign that’s going on here and why. We stand in the way of certain elite business interests whose desire is for example to ensure ACC becomes owned out of Australia, that’s what National Party means when it says choice, it means privatisation. We're against asset sales and we're against this country being sent into an unnecessary recession and serious depression because of outdated ideology, that’s what this election's about.

RAWDON Do you think that this has damaged you all these investigations …

WINSTON Well of course it has.

RAWDON Or have they helped you, because you play the victim part very well.

WINSTON Well excuse me nobody intending this campaign against Winston Peters and New Zealand First had any other intention but to seriously damage us and take us out of politics, you all know that, I mean even the most moronic journalist must realise now that something sinister's going on with this sinister campaign, but I'm not here to waste my time about that other than to say to you all independent examination has found them to be not true in any way shape or form.

RAWDON We've got a nice straight answer from you here but one of the issues surely is the fact that journalists acting as the voice piece for the public haven't had straight answers in the past, we've had ducking and weaving …

WINSTON Don’t call yourself the voice piece of the public for goodness sake.

RAWDON Why didn’t you answer these questions with straightforward answers?

WINSTON Owen Glenn said there was no money involved in this issue, you bleed them on everything else he said but you won't bleed them on that issue, then you got me saying I knew in December 2005 of a donation to the electoral fund for New Zealand First, but apparently I sat on my bum for 15 months and did nothing. Now this story just doesn’t stack up, but that’s the way you people are, and you’ve relentlessly joined the pack hunt, but I'm afraid I think New Zealanders out there have got a sense of decency they can see a scam campaign and they can smell what it looks like and they’ve watched it day in day out relentlessly and here we are one week out from the election and the Dom in its inimitable style leads off with a three page attack now, all based on fantasy. Let me ask you this question, who would be campaigning from a helicopter unless he's going on a deer stalking expedition?

RAWDON So you’ve never, or no one has asked on your behalf anyone in the Vella family or in your connection with them for a helicopter in the 1999 campaign?

WINSTON Well why would we do that? Have you seen me flying around in helicopters?

RAWDON No, and answer's no.

WINSTON I'm asking you to use your intelligence and your memory, do you recall me flying about in helicopters in any campaign?

RAWDON The answer's no then. Let's talk policy.

WINSTON No stop here a second, look let's have some sense, some sanity here, which politician world wide would campaign from a helicopter, don’t be so stupid.

RAWDON Let's talk policy. You're proposing to rewrite the Reserve Bank Act, Michael Cullen's consistently opposed to this, so are you now prepared to make it a bottom line with the Labour Party to say if you won't support a government if they do not agree to this, to the rewriting of the Reserve Bank Act.

WINSTON Look BERL is an independent New Zealand economics forecasting group, they argue for the Reserve Bank Act to be rewritten, the head of the New Zealand Stock Exchange Mark Weldon says now we need a sterilised float of the type that BERL was also talking about. I've argued about that for years because the Reserve Bank Act is a piece of ideology that does not fit an export dependent economy.

RAWDON Would you make it a bottom line?

WINSTON I'm making it a bottom line no doubt about it because, I tried with the Policy Targets Agreement in 96, Michael Cullen tried in 99, it still has not worked and what you’ve got here is people have lost all their equity in their homes, they're paying massively over priced interest rates and credit rates in this country and it's damaging liquidity and confidence and I think some sanity is coming at last to this issue.

RAWDON So you would not join a government if they did not make it a bottom line to rewrite the Reserve Bank Act?

WINSTON It is not my intention to join any government that intends to leave the Reserve Bank Act like it is or to sell ACC.

RAWDON Right, let's look at the fund to buy back companies like Contact, you’ve suggested we set something up like this, National says it's gonna devote 40% of the Cullen Fund to investment in New Zealand, the same things isn't it?

WINSTON Of course it's not the same thing, the National Party never had an idea about this until someone else a long time ago started arguing for savings, they opposed me in 1996/97 and then when the Cullen Fund came along I supported it and gave it the critical votes to pass, we supported KiwiSaver and gave it the critical votes to pass, we supported the KiwiBank and gave it the critical votes to pass. The difference between the National Party and New Zealand First and Winston Peters is, I'm old fashioned National I stand for principles to do with savings and preparing for a rainy day and ensuring that you understand an export dependent economy and that jobs are important and we will not be backing any political ideology that suggests we should now go into massive unemployment purely because of circumstances and the barrenness of the political leadership in a country.

RAWDON Just a quick question on immigration to you, it's been a big issue again in the papers this week. It's no secret you want to cut immigration but you have been Foreign Minister, you understand the foreign sensibilities so what do you say to an international headline on your speech advocating a cut in immigration that says senior politician turns on Chinese immigrants…

WINSTON And I cannot believe you’ve…

RAWDON …and the article goes on to describe your speech race tinged.

WINSTON I've read the article, I read the article, I cannot believe that you could be and some of your journalists could be so ignorant. All around Europe they're putting up the shutters, Labour led government UK, Labour led government in Australia, they're putting up the shutters.

RAWDON You're being specific to one area of race though we believe.

WINSTON Let me finish, let me finish, let me finish, I have challenged you countless times in the past, a challenge which you’ve never met, to find me one Asian leader of any political persuasion who does not support the kind of immigration policy New Zealand First has, why don’t you actually come up with some evidence on that rather than some headline written by a New Zealander in a foreign magazine, isn't that typical?

RAWDON In speeches you have consistently singled out Chinese immigrants.

WINSTON I never mentioned Chinese,…

RAWDON You've consistently singled out non European non Pacific immigrants.

WINSTON Oh for goodness sake, nothing I've said this year has been about Chinese or any other immigrants at all.

RAWDON Alright.

WINSTON Excuse me, why did you say that when it's not true?

RAWDON Well I've got a list of examples where you have singled out Asians or non European non Pacific immigrants.

WINSTON You said Chinese.

RAWDON Non European non Pacific immigrants.

WINSTON You said Chinese, I said I don’t care from whence they come, every smart country has a focused immigration policy to make up the deficiencies and shortages in its own economy but it does not have consumer led mass immigration.

RAWDON Alright, John.

JOHN Yeah this is the sort of thing that we've been getting for 30 years this kind of weasling.

WINSTON I can't believe you're on this programme actually, you came up to the National Party the other day, if you had a shred of integrity you wouldn’t be on this show.

JOHN Why did you push Owen Glenn's case so hard for an honorary consul position?

WINSTON Because in April 2007 a second former nominee re-emerged in the form of Richard Worth's candidate and you know that full well and so the matter was alive again and after six months of investigation which I demanded that they do both on the position and the qualifications of the nominees they wrote me a paper that said in November the consul's not needed and (b) Mr Glenn would not qualify. End of story, the paper was never signed out by me I put it aside as being work that I'd completed of the thousands of things I did for High Commissions embassies and consuls around the world.

JOHN You run New Zealand First single handedly basically.

WINSTON Oh rubbish. Now look look don’t repeat that kinda stuff, I have a party of thousands and thousands of members with a full board, you know that full well and you keep on making these statements about a one man band, when are you gonna give up telling these deceitful statements.

JOHN It's just not credible you didn’t know about the donation.

WINSTON Well you see that’s extraordinary, do you think I'd have held up a no sign if I thought it was yes? I'm a lawyer and I've been in this game 30 years I know exactly what the rules are, and I didn’t know until the 18th of November – of July this year when Brian Henry came round and told me. Now, the moment I knew I put out a press statement to the press gallery and then told Helen Clark and I am not going to tell you something else because it's not convenient for you to believe me but it is the truth.

VERNON I'd actually would like to get on to the economy…

WINSTON Well so would I but you see you’ve got someone on this panel here who….

RAWDON Sorry, Vernon your question.

WINSTON You’ve got someone on this panel here that last time he turned up he said he didn’t want to hear a word I had to say, so what on earth's he doing here when he ….. for National yesterday.

VERNON I don’t even work for the same paper as John.

RAWDON The question from Vernon.

VERNON Just something you said about helicopters before, you said you wouldn’t campaign from a helicopter but in 2005 you had a helicopter ride from Nelson to Picton to Blenheim when you were campaigning, I mean where did that come from?

WINSTON Well I didn’t have a helicopter ride for Nelson to Picton to Blenheim full stop.

VERNON Well you did because one of our journalists was on it with you.

WINSTON Yeah but it wasn’t Nelson Picton to Blenheim.

VERNON Well correct me then.

WINSTON Well no, look Mr Roughan you're meant to deal in literacy and facts, we had to go down to the West Coast there was no way of getting there in the circumstances and so we went and got a helicopter, one ride once.

VERNON Well who paid for it?

WINSTON Well we did.

VERNON The party?

WINSTON Yes.

VERNON Getting back to the economy. You said that you want some changes to the Reserve Bank Act.

WINSTON Well Mr Roughan you can laugh but saying one thing like the trip was to so and so place which is not factual is something a journalist should understand and respect, clearly you do not.

VERNON The journalist just said Nelson I should have probably said the Nelson electorate maybe or maybe it was West Coast electorate, but I think can we move on.

WINSTON West Coast yes.

VERNON We accept the point it was a helicopter ride, I just got the initial destination wrong.

RAWDON I'm sorry guys we're out of time we spent too much time again to nit picking around the detail rather than.

WINSTON Oh yeah but look here's the point….

RAWDON Mr Peters we're out of time now, thank you very much for joining us I do appreciate you coming in, have a good week with your final week of the campaign.