Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Did we witness Winston Peters' last speech as Foreign Minister?

Now, I think we may have just witnessed Winston Peters’ last major foreign policy speech as Foreign Minister, ever.

It is definitely the last one before the election, and if you follow the breadcrumbs he has been laying recently, it sounds like he does not want to be Foreign Minister next term.

Pee Kay: Where should the ambulance be placed?

And Why the Taxpayer is Left at the Bottom of the Cliff

A recent letter to the editor in the NZ Herald read – “…when are we going to wake up as a nation and realise that we need more tax income to pay for all the health, education and infrastructure that the country needs attending to?

Adding – “Future generations will be burdened with debt that will need to be repaid unless we are brave enough to change our tax structure to meet our growing needs”

So here we have another economic visionary gracing the letters to the editor page, imploring the state to extract even more cash from our already empty wallets. Because obviously to them, the only reason New Zealand’s hospitals are crumbling and our roads resemble the surface of the moon is that the government simply doesn’t have enough of our hard earned tax dollars to fritter away! The prevailing wisdom from these bleeding hearts is always the same; if we just tax our way to prosperity, future generations will magically inherit a debt-free utopia.

Rodney Hide: If it happened here

Winston Peters is back on the MFA account telling Israel how to behave.

Settlements. Settler violence. Annexation. Two-state. International law.

Every press release of this sort lands the same way in Jerusalem: your enemies hear that New Zealand is not with you. Your own voters hear that Wellington’s first instinct is to manage Israel’s response, not to name the aggressor and stand clear.

That is not neutrality. It is pressure — applied to the side that was invaded.

David Farrar: Hipkins announces he has discovered gravity!

The Herald reports:

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has ruled out a governing deal with New Zealand First. …

Winston has responded:

Peter Williams: Who can be a racist?

It's not about ethnicity. It's about your politics.

In my not entirely successful career as a radio talk show host, a few encounters remain fresh in the memory.

One was with former Te Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira during the time of the Ihumatao land occupation near Auckland Airport in 2019.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Both Labour and National are tiptoeing around Winston

Did you see even Don Brash reckons Luxon should fire Winston as Foreign Minister?

Before anyone gets their hopes up, this never going to happen. If the PM cut Winston loose, the government would fall apart. That would kill not only Luxon's current term but his ambitions for a second.

Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Winston's right about one thing in this situation

Winston Peters has a point - but is making it terribly.

In fact, if you've been following what happened in the House yesterday, it doesn't actually make all that much sense. But the bit the media is focusing on is the part where Winston tells Green Party MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to "go back to your own country".

Andrew Dickens: Winston should know better

Winston Peters escaped censure yesterday from the Speaker after his little outburst against a Green MP.

But Mr Peters is still being judged in the court of public opinion.

Carmel Sepuloni was jumping up and down demanding he resign, or be sacked or just go away, which is not going to happen.

Damien Grant: New Zealand First is important, but it is not, yet, serious

Dear reader. Last weekend I went to the New Zealand First conference and election launch at the Due Drop Events Centre in Manukau. You know the one. It is meant to resemble a Polynesian fale. Reminds me of two praying mantises engaged in a death match.

Moving on.

For three decades the Odysseus of New Zealand politics has navigated the turbulent seas of electoral fortune. He fell to Helen Clark’s sirens touting the baubles of office, only to wrench himself free. He was caught under Ardern’s spell to spend three years trapped by his own Calypso before being tossed into the lotus island of obscurity.

Mike Butler: The long march to tribal control

NZCPR has published a number of articles on New Zealand’s “the long march through the institutions", the non-violent path to achieve Marxist revolution. This article, which is a bit of a long read, looks at the nuts and bolts of how the strategy has been applied here and gives an evaluation of where we are at.

The long march is a political strategy that seeks to create radical social change by infiltrating and subverting the core organizations of a society rather than using violent revolution. The strategy is accomplished by:

Gary Judd KC: More Misconduct by Stuart Nash

Realpolitik in operation: Nash ceases to be NZF candidate

My article of May 26, 2026, Stuart Nash, Cabinet Confidentiality, and Winston Peters’ Standards Has Misconduct Stopped Mattering: or is it another case of amnesia? ended this way:

Kerre Woodham: Will we see the return from NZ First's proposal?

New Zealand First had its own little party on the weekend. It's going to campaign on funding a $1 billion survey of offshore oil and gas reserves that it says would lead to the country owning its own supply and reducing power prices. Hello, 1972!

However, it is unclear how many years it would take for Kiwis to feel the benefits, if any, as Winston said it was expected it could take six years just to establish a pathway forward.

Rodney Hide: RODNEY HIDE - Breaking news, 15 December - “He’s done it again!”

Mr Winston Peters remains New Zealand’s most enduring and adaptable political survivor. First elected to Parliament in 1978—just months after Sir Keith Holyoake resigned as Governor-General -- Mr Peters and Sir Keith bridge nearly a century of our parliamentary history. Sir Keith entered Parliament in 1932; together, these two men span the modern era. With his bearing and suits, Mr Peters would have slotted seamlessly into Sir Keith’s cabinet. Yet unlike the tuatara, frozen in its Jurassic adaptations, Mr Peters thrives in new terrain. He masters social media with a precision few politicians match, turning tweets into scalpel-sharp commentary.

Lindsay Mitchell: Residents must retain their right to participate

According to Treasury, "People present in New Zealand each year are increasingly non-NZ citizens":

"In 2024, there were 476,000 resident visa holders to spend at least one day in New Zealand, and 705,000 holders of permanent resident visas."

Matua Kahurangi: Winston Peters announces citizens-only voting policy

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, today in Warkworth, has unveiled a strong new policy to restore integrity to the country’s electoral system. Under the proposal, only New Zealand citizens will be eligible to vote in both local and general elections.

Peters made the announcement clear and direct. “We’re making another campaign announcement here today. We’re announcing today that New Zealand First will change the law that only citizens of New Zealand can vote in local and general elections.”

Graham Adams: Is UNDRIP really an easy win for Winston?

With National widely regarded as falling somewhere between half-hearted and hopeless on rolling back co-governance, its coalition partners are in fierce competition for voters who object to Maorification and reject any interpretation of the Treaty that implies a partnership between the Crown and iwi.

Bob Edlin: The point rightly raised by Peters is that the same Parliamentary question has been asked umpteen times before

Before Opposition leader Chris Hipkins had a chance to put Question Two to the Prime Minister on Tuesday, Winston Peters had intervened to raise a point of order.

It was a welcome point of order, at least for those familiar with the Parliamentary questioning procedure.

Peters said the question had been asked before.

Indeed, it had.

JC: Which Way Will Winston Jump?

Winston will stay where he is and not jump to the left. You might think its gone off track to concentrate on the Labour Party but my purpose is to highlight the policy differences between NZ First and Labour which will contribute to the decision Winston makes.

I note on Backchat and elsewhere there are some still not trusting Winston not to veer left post election and put the left block of chaos and mayhem into power. Despite his categorical statements that he will not do so, a level of distrust persists. This is perfectly understandable given the man’s history but I do not subscribe to it. I agree it is hard to forgive him for his horrendous betrayal of the right in 2017 by giving power to the Morrinsville fish and chips wrapper. The country paid a heavy price for that but so did he.

Gary Judd KC: Stuart Nash, Cabinet Confidentiality, and Winston Peters’ Standards

Has Misconduct Stopped Mattering: or is it another case of amnesia?

Lord Peter Mandelson, former UK Cabinet Minister and dismissed UK Ambassador to Washington DC, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew and sometime UK trade envoy, were both arrested earlier this year on suspicion of committing the offence of misconduct in public office. Both have been released on bail. Neither has yet been charged. Neither may be charged. The common feature of the charges is the alleged sharing of sensitive government information they received in official capacities.

The UK Law Commission in making recommendations for law reform in this area, described the offence:

Damien Grant: Nicola Willis talks fiscal discipline — then Winston Peters enters the chat

We saw two very different visions of our economic future last week, from two parties in the same government. Let’s take a closer look.

Nicola Willis has discovered fiscal discipline. She has promised her budget will begin a process of reducing the public service headcount by nearly nine thousand and cutting most agencies operating budgets by 2% in the coming year and 5% in subsequent years.