Under political fire and facing internal dissent, the Prime Minister is forced to quash a ministerial proposal to legislate the Kermadec ocean sanctuary in the dying days of this Parliament.
Comment: On Sunday afternoon in Hamilton, Chris Hipkins announced Labour would make it compulsory for all schools to teach financial literacy.
But an hour earlier, an hour up the road, Winston Peters had the jump on him. “This is not an economics lesson but how can politicians be making so many promises of spending when they can’t answer the most simple question, ‘so where is the money coming from?’”
Yes, the NZ First leader is back in town.
READ MORE: * The latest charts and data on Election 2023 * Last bid to push through contentious Kermadec ocean sanctuary
Newsroom senior political journalist Marc Daalder has compiled the charts and data you’ll want to watch in this election campaign.
The first update – and the numbers will be updated constantly – shows NZ First steadily pushing upwards, poll by poll, to 5.8 percent this month. And it’s barely dipped into a $1 million-plus war chest: it squirrelled away $107,000 in 2021, $317,000 in 2022, and has already disclosed $631,000 in big donations this year.
It's notable the biggest disclosed donations are from business leaders who usually donate to National and Act – an indication, presumably, that they at least believe Peters would back a National-led government.
"It's really difficult to put your grudges behind you, if your name is Winston Peters." – Winston Peters, NZ First leader
Retired property developer Mark Wyborn split $100,000 between National and Act last year – but this year's he's given a cool $200,000 to NZ First. Wyborn's business partner in developments like Auckland's Viaduct, Trevor Farmer, has also donated to all three parties. But Wyborn's $200,000 makes him the most transparent big NZ First donor ever – after a long history in which transparency around the party's donations was somewhat lacking.
The NZ First leader is also back to his old messages, railing against "violent thugs", and opposing co-governance and immigration. Dismissing the Greens’ environmental credentials in his speech at Pukekohe on Sunday, Peters said: "Some of their MPs only arrived in our country yesterday. Preaching to people whose DNA in this country goes back hundreds of years."
His party has had an early win in its battle to wrench iwi votes away from Labour.
In 2017, I reported NZ First’s successful coalition deal to stall the contentious Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary – to the dismay of the Greens.
Now, both NZ First and Te Pāti Māori have vocally opposed Environment Minister David Parker’s attempts to push through the sanctuary in the dying days of this Parliament.
NZ First’s Penetaui Kleskovic, a Far North District Councillor and son of the party’s deputy leader, Shane Jones, spoke at the commemorations of the Māori King’s coronation, at Tūrangawaewae near Ngāruawahia.
In Te Reo, he told gathered leaders that iwi matua had signed up to the fisheries settlement in good faith. If Labour touched the Kermadec, their waka would be the Titanic, and they would be sitting in the sinking deckchairs.
"We are not progressing the Kermadec legislation before the election. We need to get back around the table and we need to continue to talk." – Chris Hipkins, Prime Minister
Hipkins was also at Tūrangawaewae yesterday morning, before heading down the road to Hamilton for his financial literacy announcement.
In the face of such opposition from Māori, Hipkins reassured his MPs that plans for the sanctuary – which entailed taking back fishing quota from iwi – would not go ahead before the election.
"We are not progressing the Kermadec legislation before the election," he told media. "We need to get back around the table and we need to continue to talk. That’s evidenced by the fact that the proposal on the table has been rejected. It means we need to keep talking."
Hipkins knows that to lose Māori votes in the final weeks before the election could be disastrous for the party. And he also knows that if National and Act fail to win enough seats to govern together, then Labour may well have to negotiate with the Greens, NZ First and Te Pāti Māori to have any chance of governing.
Much like 2017, all over again.
I heard Peters speak to the Financial Services Council conference last week. Sitting forward, feet planted, knees apart, unsmiling.
"In the end, on election night – can I just say this one thing – millions of people are expecting you to form a stable government. And you've just got to do your best, you've got to put your grudges behind you. And it's really difficult to put your grudges behind you, if your name is Winston Peters."
