Making yet another political comeback, granny charmer Winston Peters spoke to an audience of about 70 students—at least 50 years the junior of most New Zealand First supporters—at Victoria University before the mid-semester break.
Crushed into the smallest and least-glamourous meeting room in the Student Union Building, the New Zealand First leader took questions from the floor about a range of topics, as diverse as Wellington’s late trains, mining, universal student allowances and pig farming.
Peters’ appearance at Vic attracted mainstream media attention with TV3 star John Campbell and 3News political editor Duncan Garner present. 3News reported after the event that Peters is intending to stand in John Key’s seat of Helensville in the 2011 election.
Peters was berated throughout his 50-minute stand-up performance by Act on Campus President Peter McCaffrey. McCaffrey was accompanied by a large white sign that simply said “no”. The sign was reminiscent of Peters’ own “no” sign which he waved around at a press conference in 2008 in the midst of the scandal regarding political donations. Peters refused to autograph McCaffrey’s sign.
Ousted in the 2008 election, after Peters failed to win his Tauranga seat and the party failed to make the five per cent threshold necessary for representation in Parliament, Peters has been lurking in the political shadows—until now.
Peters’ visit was hosted by New Zealand First on Campus. At the meeting’s conclusion Peters encouraged those buoyed by his sentiments to consider joining the party.