Winston Peters is Leader of New Zealand First,

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Minister for Racing

Associate Minister for Senior Citizens

Many commentators try to classify Winston but he is essentially in a class of his own. He is the last of the great New Zealand political characters who are “larger than life”. He is a devastating debater with lightning reflexes in the arena of Parliament. Some of his performances are pure theatre, according to even his most vocal critics.

Winston is a champion of traditional values and a strong supporter of the people’s interests, fighting for them against shonky government and big business. During the 8-year saga of the “Winebox Affair” he fought corporate corruption and tax-dodging at huge personal cost. He was berated and persecuted by the mainstream media and the vested interests of the day who were left licking their wounds when his stand was finally vindicated. He has a particularly soft spot for the old and young, and believes that government has a special obligation to these groups.

Winston is of Māori and Scottish descent. His iwi affiliations are Ngati Wai and his clan is McInnes. After attending Whangarei Boys’ High School and Dargaville High School Winston studied history, politics and law at Auckland University, graduating BA and LLB before working both as a teacher and a lawyer.

He was a member of the University Rugby Club in Auckland and captain of the Auckland Māori Rugby team. He also played in the Prince of Wales Cup trials for the Māori All Blacks and played twice in a Māori invitation side. He maintains his interest in sport and his favourite hobbies are reading and fishing.

Before entering politics Winston led a successful campaign with other members of his Ngati Wai iwi to retain their tribal land in the face of the Labour government’s plan to create coastal land reserves for the public. The result was that virtually no ancestral land was taken by the government of the day in the Whangarei coastal areas, and the initiative helped inspire the 1975 Land March led by Dame Whina Cooper.

Winston first entered Parliament as National MP for Hunua in 1978. After losing the Hunua seat in 1981 he re-entered national politics as the National MP for Tauranga in 1984. In 1987, he was elevated to National’s front bench, acting as spokesperson for Māori Affairs, Employment, and Race Relations.

After National won the 1990 election, he became Māori Affairs Minister and developed the Ka Awatea report – a blueprint for Māori development. This was followed by a series of disagreements with the party leadership over economic and foreign ownership policies, culminating in being sacked from Cabinet in October 1991. As a backbencher he remained in National until March 1993 when he resigned from parliament and stood as an Independent in Tauranga, gaining 90.8 percent of the votes.

Shortly before the 1993 election, Winston established New Zealand First and retained his Tauranga seat and his fledgling party also won Northern Māori. In 1996 the new MMP electoral system delivered 17 seats to New Zealand First including all of the Māori seats. With Winston as Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister, the party held the balance of power in Parliament and used this to reverse some of National’s unpopular fiscal, health and superannuation policies and introduced new measures including free medical care for children.

The coalition lasted until Jenny Shipley became prime minister. After a dispute over the privatisation of Wellington International Airport he was sacked from Cabinet again in August 1998, leading New Zealand First back into opposition. The party suffered in 1999 for the rash of party-switching, gaining only 4.3% of the vote, but Winston held Tauranga by a slim margin. This allowed New Zealand First to win five seats. Still in opposition, he continued to promote his traditional policies and pointed out numerous problems and scandals in immigration policies.

In 2002 Winston campaigned on three main issues - reducing immigration, a tough message on law and order, and ending the Treaty “grievance industry”. New Zealand First won 10% of the vote and 13 seats. Despite not being in government, the party made substantial contributions, including solving the serious dilemma that had emerged over disputed ownership of the seabed and foreshore.

In 2005, New Zealand First went down to seven MPs after being disadvantaged by National moving into traditional New Zealand First policy areas and launching an all out assault on Tauranga.

Footnote: In 2007 Winston was bestowed with the chiefly Samoan title Vaovasamanaia, meaning “beautiful, handsome, awesome, delighted and joyful.”