<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="65001"%> History of New Zealand First

 

About New Zealand First

New Zealand First was formed on 18 July 1993 as a political party to represent the views of New Zealanders concerned about the economic and social direction of their country, the sale of public assets to foreign control, and the decline in employment and social services.
The party's vision is to put New Zealanders first through enlightened economic and social policies, by controlling our own resources and by restoring faith in the democratic process.

New Zealand First believes that:

 

The History of New Zealand First

New Zealand First was set up by founding members and Winston Peters, the MP for Tauranga and former Minister of Maori Affairs on 18 July 1993. He had left the National Party after disputes with its leadership, particularly over broken promises on the economy to the elderly over the superannuation surcharge. He had been excluded from running under National's banner in the 1993 election. However, Mr Peters quickly resigned from Parliament and called for a by-election in his seat. Tauranga voters in April re-elected him in a special by-election as an independent.

NZ First was formed in July and in the following and last FPP general election Mr Peters won in Tauranga and the party also won the Northern Maori seat.

 

1996 election

With the introduction of the MMP electoral system for the 1996 elections, New Zealand First won over 13 percent of the vote, gaining 17 seats, including all five Maori seats. The election result put New Zealand First in a powerful position just three years after its formation. Neither of the two traditional major parties (National and Labour) had enough seats to govern alone, and only New Zealand First had enough seats to become a realistic coalition partner for either.

New Zealand First entered into negotiations with both major parties but in the end could only realistically go into a coalition with National because Labour could not muster sufficient votes to guarantee confidence and supply. This was because Labour had taken such a battering at the election it did not have the numbers to govern with New Zealand First.  Jim Anderton, the leader of the Alliance, would not give a concrete assurance on the votes of his MPs. New Zealand First was also concerned that it would have to deal with two parties who were bitter enemies at the time.

 

Coalition with National 1996–1998

New Zealand First decided to enter a coalition with National, exacting a high number of policy concessions, including the abolition of the superannuation surcharge, free medical care for children under six, and dropping the profit models of the public health system. Winston Peters served as Deputy Prime Minister, and held the specially-created office of Treasurer (as in Australia, senior to the Minister of Finance).

Initially, New Zealand First had a relatively smooth coalition relationship with National. Despite early concerns about the ability of Winston Peters to work with Jim Bolger, who had sacked Peters from a former National cabinet, the two, who had signed off on a detailed coalition agreement, did not have major problems.  In May of 1997 the Asian currency crisis dramatically affected the NZ Asian export markets. However, the 1997 budget maintained liquidity and confidence in NZ economy. Normal coalition tensions became significant. After Jenny Shipley covertly promised to remove NZ First’s influence and gained enough support within the National caucus to force PM Bolger's resignation and replace him (8 December 1997). The tensions between the two parties continued as New Zealand First sought to defend the coalition agreement (including those policies that National would not now implement).

 

Return to opposition, 1998

On 14 August 1998, Shipley sacked Peters from Cabinet. This occurred after an ongoing dispute about the sale of the government's stake in Wellington International Airport. The issue itself appeared merely the outward manifestation of much deeper disagreement.

Peters immediately broke off the coalition with National. However, several other MPs, unwilling to follow Peters out of government, tried to replace Peters with Henare. This caucus-room coup failed, and most of these MPs joined Henare in forming a new party, Mauri Pacific, while others established themselves as independents. Many of these MPs had previously come under public scrutiny for their behaviour. Until 1999, however, they provided National with enough support to continue on without the rump of New Zealand First.

On October 1st National cut NZ Superannuation rates to 60% and privatised Contact Energy.

 

1999 General Election

In the 1999 elections the voters gave New Zealand First a severe mauling. The party gained only 4.3 percent of the vote, and would not have received any seats in Parliament had Winston Peters not held onto his electorate seat of Tauranga by only 63 votes. New Zealand First received (by proportionality) only five seats in total.

 

2002 General Election

By the election of 2002, however, the party had rebuilt much of its support. This occurred largely due to Winston Peters' three-point campaign against immigration, Treaty costs, and crime. The party won over 10% of the vote - a considerable improvement on its previous performance, and New Zealand First won thirteen seats in parliament. Winston Peters' campaign phrase "can we fix it? yes we can" gained much media attention, as the same line appeared in theme music for the children's television programme Bob The Builder.
National's vote had collapsed to the extent that it could not form a government even with New Zealand First's support, depriving the party of its negotiating advantage. In the end, however, this proved irrelevant, as Labour refused to consider an alliance with New Zealand First. Instead, Labour relied on support from the briefly-significant United Future Party.
After the 2002 election New Zealand First continued to promote its policies strongly. In light of National's decreased strength, New Zealand First attempted to gain more prominence in Opposition, frequently attacking the Labour Coalition government on a wide range of issues. However New Zealand First showed that it could work with Labour when the parties combined to pass legislation establishing Kiwi Bank, the “Cullen Superannuation Fund”,  and legislation clarifying public ownership of the foreshore and seabed.

For a period in early 2004 New Zealand First experienced a brief decline in the polls after Don Brash became leader of the National Party, a change which hugely revived National's previously fallen fortunes. The votes that had apparently previously switched to New Zealand First from National seemed to return to support Brash, now campaigning on long held NZ First policy of one law for all New Zealanders and many commentators predicted that New Zealand First would lose a number of its seats in the next election. By 2005 however the proportions had changed again, and as the campaign for the September 2005 election got under way, New Zealand First had again, midyear, reached the 10% mark in political polling.

Pre-election polls put New Zealand First ahead of the other minor parties. Winston Peters announced that he would support the party that won the most seats, or at least abstain in no-confidence motions against it. However, he also said he would not support any government that included the Greens within the Cabinet.

 

2005 General Election

In the 2005 elections, however, the smaller political parties (including New Zealand First) suffered a severe mauling. Though it remained the third-largest party in the House, New Zealand First took only 5.72 percent of the vote, a considerable loss from 2002, and just barely enough to cross the MMP proportionality quota of 5%. In addition, Winston Peters narrowly lost his previously safe constituency seat of Tauranga by 730 votes to National's Bob Clarkson, and became a list MP.

New Zealand First had seven MPs, all elected on the party list and agreed to a supply-and-confidence agreement with the Labour Party (along with United Future) in return for policy concessions.  As Foreign Minister (outside Cabinet) Winston Peters acquitted himself with distinction receiving acclaim both here and overseas as he did as Racing Minister and Associate Minister for Senior Citizens, introducing the Gold Card for Seniors.  Mr Peters is regarded as the key figure in turning the fortunes of the NZ Racing industry around. Foreign Diplomats have recently acknowledged his critical work and personality as the key to securing better relationships with the United States

 

2008 general election

In the months before the 2008 general election, New Zealand First became embroiled in a dispute over party donations. This resulted in a wave of unfavourable newspaper headlines and an investigation into party finances by the Serious Fraud Office, the Police, and the Electoral Commission, and an investigation, into funding for an electoral petition led by Winston Peters, following complaints to the Privileges Committee. On 29 August 2008 Peters wrote to Prime Minister Clark offering to stand aside from his ministerial roles while the investigations were ongoing. Although the Serious Fraud Office, the police, and the Electoral Commission, all found that NZ First was not guilty of any wrongdoing, the episode, by design, harmed the party in the lead-up to the election.
Although the SFO, the Police and the Electoral Commission investigations all concerned NZ First and not Winston Peters the media painted the opposite picture.  Not one interview took place between the SFO, the Police or the Electoral Commission and Winston Peters.
The Privileges Committee found Mr Peters to be in breach of a rule, which hitherto had not been drafted, but which they then applied to him retrospectively.  An astonishing outcome in a country boasting a basis of British law.

On election night it was clear that Winston Peters had not regained Tauranga and that the party had not met the 5% threshold needed for parties to be elected without an electorate seat. In a gracious concession speech, the New Zealand First leader said that it's not over yet. We'll reorganise ourselves in the next few months. And we'll see what 2011 might hold for us all '.

 

The Future

Since the election there has been widespread media speculation about the future of New Zealand First and its leader Winston Peters. He has deliberately kept out of the public eye and maintained a low profile while keeping a close watch on political developments.
Recently he appeared in a television programme to voice concerns about a review of the foreshore and seabed legislation that recommends issuing “title” to Iwi and paying compensation.  This recommendation cuts across the New Zealand First supported legislation that allows customary “rights” but not “title”.
Mr Peters also wrote to party members about their membership and the 2011 election and this sparked off another media feeding frenzy.

There is no doubt Winston Peters has some unfinished business. Watch this space!