Rt. Hon Winston Peters

The Octagon Club

8 The Octagon

Dunedin

12.15pm Wednesday 3 July 2002

The bleakness of our weather at this time of the year is testimony that this is no time to hold an election.

However, New Zealanders triumph in adversity with a stoic sense of humour. People say to me “Winston you’ve been in politics a long time, you must know some good political jokes’ and I say to them: Richard Prebble and Rodney Hide.

The Greens were dope tested during the last week of Parliament: sure enough, there were seven of them!

I wonder whether my mother really knew what she was saying when she said - “Winston, eat your greens”.

The mind addles!

Jokes aside, let’s talk about POLITICAL INSURANCE - and there is only one premium to cover you for the next three years - that premium is a vote for New Zealand First with your Party vote, your second vote.

Let us face it - Labour wants to govern alone.

They have used the Greens as an excuse for a snap election in mid-winter to avoid the embarrassment of Jim Anderton - his multi-coloured political coat was threatening to make Joseph look like a stockbroker.

Labour knew they could govern for the rest of the term and we are all campaigning in the wind and rain and snow because they are obsessed with power and with not sharing power.

The Greens voted against the new superannuation fund - New Zealand First supported it.

New Zealand First, like the Greens, voted for and got a Royal Commission on genetic engineering.

Unlike us the Greens then refused to accept any of its findings.

Field trials do not begin in October 2003 for we have another 15 months to examine the Commission’s findings - the recent protests were a stunt.

Labour wants to govern alone, but they aren’t campaigning in Coromandel which indicates that they wish to use the Greens after the election as well.

Remember the last time Labour governed alone - New Zealand was turned upside down in a ghastly social and economic experiment that threw tens of thousands of people out of work and we are still trying to fix their problems!

That is why you need to take out political insurance, that is why you need to give New Zealand First your party vote.

The thought of the Greens holding the balance of power is the worst nightmare of every mother and father in this country.

The Greens want marijuana legal, cheap, and easy to obtain. The number four on their party list is a self-confessed cannabis smoker.

He is the Greens spokesman on youth affairs and he is trying to get the youth vote.

This drug is having disastrous consequences on thousands of our young people. School principals all over New Zealand say that cannabis use is a consistent factor in youth suicides, truancy, and behavioural problems. We know it leads many into a life of crime.

It is also a common factor in many of the tragic and violent cases involving mental patients.

Yet the Greens want this drug freely available. How can you trust a party like this with the future of our youth? Which other Member of Parliament would get away with daily announcements of how he breaks the law?

This is not a role model - it is a dole model.

Every father, mother, sister and brother that has been through the misery of drugs in their family has a chance in this election to stop this sabotage of our youth. Labour’s soft policy on this issue is no better.

New Zealand First is against drug use and we hope you are too.

We are concentrating on three key issues this election campaign.

Your right to a safe society

Your right to be treated as equal

And your right to decide who will be welcomed into our country.

We will wage war on crime, we will stop the racially based policies that are creating two New Zealands, and we will stop the flood of immigration into New Zealand at seven times Australia’s real rate.

THREE THINGS

THREE THINGS IN THREE YEARS.

LAW AND ORDER

At the last election the people of this country gave the incoming government a clear message that it was time to take a hard line with law and order.

More than ninety percent of electors voted for tougher sentences because ordinary New Zealanders are deeply uneasy about this country's descent into lawlessness.

Labour ignored you - in fact in Tauranga two weeks ago the Prime Minister said that law and order was not a problem. She has security guards, you don’t.

We used to read what was happening on the dangerous streets of Los Angeles and wonder how such terrible crimes could be committed against people.

These crimes are now being committed here - every day. Within two weeks of Helen Clark telling my constituents that law and order was not a problem we have had the usual outbreaks of rapes, murder, and mayhem.

Only last weekend an old woman in Dannevirke was robbed and raped in her own home.

Last week an Oamaru man was jailed for life for killing and sexually assaulting an elderly woman on a West Coast beach.

He had already spent eight years in prison for attacking a woman and yet the authorities did not consider him to be a further danger to society.

Ordinary New Zealanders wonder why.

Because of the mistaken belief of successive governments that the rights of the individual are somehow more important than the rights of the rest of society.

Rights have been put before responsibilities to the point where everyone and anyone has the right to do whatever they wish, when they wish, so that public streets and even our own homes are no longer safe.

If they are brought to justice teams of taxpayer-funded lawyers are there to look after them while the poor victims try to patch up their lives.

We can only fix this situation by creating a hard-hitting programme to ensure that the law-abiding have the upper hand over the law breaking.

It is time for some tough love! It is time for some discipline.

It won’t cost hundreds of millions of dollars, for the main change that we need is a change of attitude: we’ve had enough and we’re not taking any more.

New Zealand First believes that an offender, once found guilty, should serve the full sentence.

There will be a chance to earn an earlier release by way of approval through the Parole Board but this will be gained only through good behaviour, genuine remorse, and a willingness to make good any restitution imposed at the time of sentencing.

The principle here is that entitlements to parole or early release must be earned - they will not be automatic rights.

The system of automatic remission of sentence will be discontinued and Judges will no longer have the ability to discount terms of imprisonment once they have commenced.

The only reductions in sentence will be at the discretion of the Parole Board and it will work within strict guidelines laid down by law.

Parole will only be considered in exchange for tangible and demonstrated regret, recognition of the hurt and cost to victims, and the making good of compensation required by the Parole Board.

Compensation for victims, paid for by the offender will also be introduced.

Compensation can take many forms, for example repair or replacement of property damaged or stolen, or monetary compensation to fund health assistance.

New Zealand First will introduce a regime of fixed term sentencing for specified crimes.

We will pilot a system whereby those convicted of serious crimes will be offered remission in exchange for completing their time under a regime of hard labour.

They will be required to work either within prison, or if trustworthy, in selected communities. They will receive payment, which will be put towards victim restitution.

We have to try harsher deterrence to deter offending. The soft options are not working.

New Zealand First will lower the age of criminal responsibility and accountability to 14 years of age.

Young offenders 14 years of age and over will be dealt with by the District and High Courts as opposed to Youth Courts, should their offending have taken place after having reached the age of 14.

It is an old saying that the devil makes work for idle hands.

New Zealand cannot allow its young people to grow up without jobs, self-discipline or direction - that is a recipe for disaster.

For that reason we will introduce military-like or community service training for young unemployed people in trouble with the law to foster discipline, self-esteem and to bring order into their lives.

When we were young we saw police officers on the beat on the streets. The sight of the men in blue deterred many a youngster on the verge of offending.

We must have police officers back on our streets. We must have enough police so they can be seen - and not just in a police car in the distance.

The police force must have the powers and equipment to do their job and we will ensure this happens.

We will widen the thin blue line.

There will be no more soft options. The Government did not hear your message last time - but we heard you. We can fix it, and we will!

Immigration

We will also close the floodgates to stop New Zealand being invaded by more than fifty-three thousand immigrants every year.

That is half the population of Dunedin. Just think - every two years we are bringing in the total population of Dunedin.

About 55,000 children are born in New Zealand every year - almost as many immigrants are being granted residency as are born here.

Is this what you want?

No other country in the world with any sort of control lets this happen.

Why are we handing over our country to someone else when our first duty is to serve New Zealanders?

Immigration is out of control - under both Labour and National.

Without any clear policy or mandate from the people- Labour and National have been selling our country out - handing out citizenship like lotto tickets. They have done nothing to stop the immigration scams and marriages of convenience. A criminal is deported from one airport and then arrives back through another!

We also pay in other ways. Auckland is the new Mecca. The city is bursting at the seams,

house prices are soaring and the roads are grid locked and here in Dunedin you are paying an extra 4.5c per litre of petrol for Auckland’s problem.

There is a strain on the health and education systems and the Reserve Bank looks at what is happening in Auckland and puts up interest rates, as it did today for the fourth time this year. Prices go up in Dunedin because of immigration pressure in Auckland!

We now have Third World diseases in New Zealand. Diseases born of poverty among our own people and yet still we bring in tens of thousands of immigrants from Third World countries to add to the burden.

Compare New Zealand’s stance on immigration to Australia’s: seven times our size but taking in only one seventh, in real terms, of the immigrants we do. Australians make no apology for that.

We are going to take action - we are going to fix it.

- We will cut the number of immigrants

- We will bring in only those who will bring benefits.

- We will clean up the Immigration Service and enforce strict immigration laws.

- We will have stiff penalties for any who break the rules.

- We will put all immigrants on probation. If they commit crimes they will be sent home. It will be as simple as that.

Can we fix it?

Yes we can!

Treaty of Waitangi

The Treaty industry is creating two New Zealands.

No longer our Magna Carta, over the past 15 years the Treaty has become a gravy train for a lucky few. A gravy train built by Labour and with extra carriages added by National.

Labour is bogged down in a mire of Treaty claims and counter claims. Generations of New Zealand taxpayers will have to pay for them.

New Zealand First has repeatedly challenged the Government to spell out the mystical principles of the Treaty.

They cannot answer and anyone who questions the Treaty industry is accused of racism.

The real tragedy of the Treaty Industry is that it rides on the back of a genuine issue -- the situation facing Maori.

Anyone who has the slightest concern for Maori can see that the Treaty Industry has brought most Maori absolutely nothing.

It has diverted attention from the real issues - the educational, employment, housing and heath status of Maori. The State spends on average $23,000 per year on each Maori. Where is it going? It is certainly not reaching those who need it.

In some areas local councils are setting up special seats for Maori. In South Africa this was called the politics of apartheid. Maori do not need this. New Zealand does not need this.

For many years my critics have called me a Maori basher and a racist.

Well, if standing up for ordinary New Zealanders - no matter what race - is Maori bashing and racist, I PLEAD GUILTY.

If standing up for our society, our values and traditions, and a united country is Maori bashing and racist, I plead GUILTY.

If saying that the Treaty industry has to stop is Maori bashing and racist - again I plead GUILTY.

The road that New Zealand First is taking goes in the opposite direction to the prevailing political correctness. We make no apology for that.

It is not a time for apologies. It is not a time for cringing in front of the world. It is time to hold our heads up as one people and make New Zealand a better place.

New Zealand First can be trusted with that task. Over the past three years we have backed those policies that we felt would benefit most New Zealanders and we will do so again.

We are only interested in helping build a stable and fair government. A government that can be trusted to make your streets and homes safe - a government that does not divide the country, and a government that keeps New Zealand for New Zealanders.

Remember that New Zealand First is your political insurance.

When you go into your polling booth to vote, remember what used to happen when Labour or National governed alone.

Put a tick beside New Zealand First for your party vote. It will be the best insurance policy you will ever take out.

Can we fix it?

Yes we can!

AND WE WILL!

ENDS

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