"People are sick and tired of it": Peters says the election campaign's among worst he's 'ever seen'

Winston Peters says the 2026 election campaign is one of the worst he's ever seen. 

The New Zealand First Leader told Mike Hosking on the Leaders Breakfast people are sick and tired of it – the pettiness, the diversion, the misleading representation. 

He says if you ask people in the audience, as he did at public meeting in the Hutt Valley last night, if they're sick and tired of it, they all put their hands up. 

The party is also taking its campaign directly to the people, with Winston Peters arguing packed-out town halls are the best poll there is. 

NZ First's been drawing big crowds around the country in recent months, taking a different approach to many of its rivals. 

Peters told Hosking the mainstream media has dramatically changed, and claims it now takes sides politically in the worst way he's seen. 

He says there's only social media, or the old fashion way of meeting locals, to fight that. 

Peters expressed frustration New Zealand wasn’t an export “powerhouse”. Challenged on the relative success of New Zealand’s exports, Peters argued the country should be more successful and reinforced the need to double the value of exports in the next decade. 

Asked for his proudest moments of the last term, Peters referred to retaining provincial investment, getting rid of “woke legislation” and increasing New Zealand’s respect on the world stage through his efforts as Foreign Affairs Minister. 

On another round of potential negotiations with National and ACT, Peters expected they would progress more smoothly than in 2023 as the two party leaders had experience in Cabinet. 

He reinforced the party’s policies designed to retain workers and businesses in New Zealand as opposed to losing them to Australia, noting his proposal to cut the corporate tax rate for small businesses would see a “galvanising of business”. 

Peters again declared the Waitangi Tribunal would be scrapped within three months of the next government forming, which he believed was supported by a “significant proportion of the coalition” despite National being of the view that the tribunal had a role to play. 

He emphasised the need for National supporters to split their vote by voting for a National candidate but giving their party vote to NZ First or ACT, saying that approach would make it more likely the coalition could be re-elected. 

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