'Political IQ of mung beans': More than 600 gather to hear Peters' attacks and vision
More than 600 people packed into a public hall to hear the vision that New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has to turn Hawke’s Bay into, in his own words, a “bay of plenty”.
Peters took to the stage at the Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts and Events Centre in Hastings on Sunday, along with his candidates for the region’s two seats, former Labour minister Stuart Nash for Napier and former All Blacks captain Taine Randell in Tukituki.
It’s the party’s first public meeting in the region this election cycle.
A group of about 10 protesters outside meant attendees to walk past Palestine flags to enter the building, a reflection of Peters’ role as Foreign Minister during the Gaza conflict.
Aside from some heated discussions, both sides acted with good manners.
Randell, the new boy on the political block, was the first to speak to the crowd.
Protesters outside New Zealand First's Hastings public meeting. Photo / Jack Riddell
He said the reason he was standing for the party was it was the only one coming up with solutions.
Randell cited a recent opinion piece that said Hawke’s Bay could be a “main event” at the election.
“For once, the road to the Beehive runs straight through Hawke’s Bay,” he quoted from the piece.
Next was Nash, who made a bet with the audience that Peters would be the only political leader who came to talk to the region.
Nash initially retired from politics in 2023, after he was sacked from Cabinet following a revelation he leaked confidential Cabinet information to two donors.
Of his and his great-grandfather’s former party, Labour, he said he did not leave Labour but “Labour left me”.
“Labour now stands for those who complain the loudest, whereas New Zealand First stands for those who work the hardest,” Nash said.
Peters then took his place in the spotlight by making a slight gaffe, followed by a quick comeback.
“Stuart and Tane have a real chance of turning things around in the Bay of Plenty – in the Hawke’s Bay.
“And they’re going to make the Hawke’s Bay a bay of plenty.”
Winston Peters on stage at New Zealand First's Hastings public meeting. Photo / Jack Riddell
Peters came out swinging at the left bloc, his current coalition partners and had a swipe at the current crop of Hawke’s Bay MPs, Catherine Wedd (Tukituki), Katie Nimon (Napier), Mike Butterick (Wairarapa) and Cushla Tangaere-Manuel (Ikaroa-Rāwhiti).
“As they say in the deep south of the United States – they’re long on the lip and slow on the hip.”
Peters’ opinion on Labour: “Labour is now a party of lanyard-wearing socialists who walk around in comfortable shoes.”
His opinion on the Greens: “They are nuttier than squirrel scat and have the political IQ of mung beans.”
On Te Pāti Māori: “A massive disappointment for Māoridom.”
Peters said NZ First stood for a “functioning” health system, a top-class education system, affordable housing and “First World wages”.
He said the party would break up the gentailers, bust the supermarket duopoly, buy back the Bank of New Zealand and leave the Paris Agreement to avoid shelling out $22 billion to pay “our way of obligations”.
Peters also hit out at New Zealand’s fair trade agreement with India.
Among the youngest in the crowd was 28-year-old Angus Rand.
Rand said he had come to prepare his mind for the election and to see what he really wanted to vote for.
“I really like his idea with the SuperGold card making it as a photo ID,” he said.
He’d voted for Peters previously and believed Peters would make a great Prime Minister.
When asked by Hawke’s Bay Today if he had any ambitions for the top role, Peters said:
“We’ll worry about all those questions on the 8th of November.”
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.
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