Simon Wilson: Election 2023 - A grumpy Winston Peters and his ‘mission to save our country’
Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read. OPINION Wasnt that a beautiful weekend? Almost no rain! I spent my Saturday morning at Te Mahurehure Marae in Pt Chevalier, with a bunch of young journalism leaders, most of them people of colour. The event was called a wananga, which on this occasion meant a session of inspiration and advice. They were hearing from leaders in the creative sector: Specifically, in museums, theatre and dance, and fashion. I was listening in. On Sunday afternoon, I went to the Go Media Stadium at Mt Smart, to hear Winston Peters launch the NZ First election campaign . Slogan: Lets Take Back Our Country. The two meetings could hardly have been more different. Peters spoke to about 500 people, mainly older and mainly, it seemed, as grumpy as him. Were going backwards as a country, he said at the start. Its because of woke extremism and what we need is unity, not separatism. These ideas recurred throughout his speech and he focused on them again at the end. We meet here on a mission to save our country, he declared. The threat to our country comes from the rising tide of racism and separatism, which Peters claimed is happening because the Greens, Labour and the Maori Party have launched a full-scale attack on democracy. He gave a shout-out to the conspiratorial protest movement, saying he had been prepared to go and listen to those protesters at Parliament when no one else would. He reinforced that when he outlined his partys five priorities: Number one was freedom and democracy, including racism and separatism. The cost of living, health and education, rising crime and improving the lives of our seniors rounded out his five-point list. NZ First, Peters said, would return New Zealand to what we once were: The greatest country on Earth. Even if the rhetoric does come from elsewhere. At the Saturday wananga, one participant said, What were all about in this country is recognising that we all have to live together, so how do we weave our lives together? This was Tanemahuta Gray, who leads Taki Rua Productions, a Maori performance company based in Wellington. Its a sentiment youd think wed hear more often from politicians. There were some similarities between the two events. For one thing, the venue for both was a place of special importance to Maori and where everyone was welcome. Given the way separatism has been so often alleged, it seems worth mentioning. There were also differences and they ran far deeper than the words spoken and the people in attendance. Despite the party slogan, those in the room with Peters have not had their country stolen from them and they do not need to take it back. Most grew up at a time when state-house construction was booming. There were very good child benefits and free and low-cost education. Relative to wages, a typical house cost a third of what it does now, so most people could reasonably expect they would be able to buy one. Since then, many who did have turned their home ownership into considerable wealth, by leveraging their property to buy more. They are the generation who have enjoyed more expanded life choices than any other in history. Their superannuation is universal and not under threat. And thanks to Peters credit where its due their Gold Cards help them participate in society every day. They dont need to take back their country because it hasnt gone away. They used to be good with change, too. They are the children who rebelled against the restricted old world of their parents because they believed they could build a better, freer, more fun one instead. And yet they are grumpy. Most of the young people I was with on Saturday morning can look forward to little of that. They have steep student loans, difficult career prospects and a limited chance at home ownership. They know that health, education, housing, transport, water services, welfare, environmental protections and more suffer disturbing levels of dysfunction. They didnt cause any of that. They inherited a social crisis from their parents and grandparents, who built their new and better world while insisting on low tax and public debt, which led to decades of underfunding. They also know theres a good chance the world will become catastrophically dangerous in their lifetimes, because of the climate crisis. They didnt cause this either, and they didnt spend the past 30 years refusing to acknowledge it, but they will have to deal with it. And for many of them, simply by virtue of their race, they and their families are likely to earn less money, become ill across almost every health indicator including mental health, be arrested and go to prison, be excluded from home ownership and career promotion. And die younger. In their own country. If you want to talk about people whose country is no longer theirs, its Maori. If you want to put it in generational terms, its young people. But on Saturday morning, they werent grumpy or bitter or angry. Love was in the air, because manaakitanga the mutually reinforcing expression of care buoyed everyone there. The event began and ended with karakia. Not because everyone was religious or being forced to pretend they were, but because a karakia is a way to invite the kaupapa of respect. It reminds us we are part of something bigger. It asks that we bring our humble and best selves to the place and the occasion. Wananga, I learned, means time to listen. The word asks you to open your mind and your heart. Somebody said, that morning, that Te Tiriti is a partnership. Peters disputes that. He told his audience the next afternoon there are four woke claims about the Treaty that are untrue. One is that it gives iwi partnership with the Crown. Two of the others are that Maori didnt cede sovereignty and the Treaty enshrines co-governance. The fourth is that Maori lived in a garden of Eden until Pakeha arrived. Actually, I dont think anyone believes that. I know there are historians and legal scholars who debate all these issues with sometimes mind-bending intricacy. I know the legal and cultural implications are important. But I come at it a little differently and I think the Peters argument is a distraction. Im with Tanemahuta Gray. I think the challenge is to work out how to weave our lives together and Te Tiriti gives us the opportunity. We can bring our best selves to this debate if we assume the signatories brought their own best selves. And even if that isnt completely true, I dont really care. We can do it anyway. Weaving together is the opposite of separatism: You have to join up. And it doesnt mean one side giving up who they are for the sake of the other. Thats what Pakeha used to demand from Maori and its what so many Maori object to now. It means all of us learning from each other, respecting each other, inspiring each other. But it cant happen if the rallying cry on one side is to take back our country. Thats your separatism. Thats what breeds race hatred. At Go Media Stadium, at the top of the north bank, theres a building painted with a large green sign. Wharepaku, it says. Tane are directed to the left and Wahine to the right. It doesnt cause a fuss. It doesnt confuse anyone. The Warriors fans who use the building dont all speak te reo Maori, but either they like it the way it is or they dont mind. In my view, most of us live in a country where thats true. Peters said something else on Sunday: That on October 14 we face the most critical election in our lifetime. Most other party leaders have said the same. The stakes are very high on both sides. Its still too early to say which side will win, but its obvious there will be a great deal of anger and despair among supporters of whoever loses. Rhetoric that stokes resentment is the last thing we need. Simon Wilson is an award-winning senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018. Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read. If I return to visit my dying mother I will be arrested on the spot.