176 Facts About Winston Peters

Winston Peters has been leader of New Zealand First since he founded the political party in 1993.

Winston Peters was re-elected for a fifteenth time at the 2023 general election, having previously been a member of Parliament from 1979 to 1981,1984 to 2008 and 2011 to 2020.

Winston Peters first entered the New Zealand House of Representatives for the National Party in the 1978 general election, taking office in 1979 after a high court ruling initially nullified his victory.

Winston Peters rose in prominence during the 1980s as an eloquent and charismatic Maori conservative, first gaining national attention for exposing the Maori loan affair in 1986.

Winston Peters first served in the Cabinet as minister of Maori affairs when Jim Bolger led the National Party to victory in 1990.

Winston Peters was dismissed from this post in 1991 after criticising his own Government's economic and foreign ownership policies, particularly the neoliberal reforms known as Ruthanasia.

Winston Peters then founded New Zealand First, a populist party with a distinctly Maori character, backed by ex-Labour and National voters alike disenchanted with neoliberalism.

Winston Peters started the Winebox Inquiry in 1994, which concerned companies using the Cook Islands as a tax haven.

In 1999, New Zealand First returned to opposition before entering government with Labour Party Prime Minister Helen Clark, in which Winston Peters served as minister of foreign affairs from 2005 to 2008.

Winston Peters returned to Parliament and spent two terms in opposition before forming a coalition government with the Labour Party in 2017.

Winston Peters was acting prime minister from 21 June 2018 to 2 August 2018 while Ardern was on maternity leave.

Winston Peters failed to be elected for a third time in the 2020 election, but staged another comeback in 2023 and helped form the Sixth National Government.

Winston Peters's father was Maori, primarily of the Ngati Wai iwi, but of Ngati Hine and Ngapuhi.

Winston Peters grew up on a farm in Whananaki, and after attending Whangarei Boys' High School and Dargaville High School, Peters studied at the Auckland Teachers' Training College.

In 1970 Winston Peters returned to New Zealand and studied history, politics and law at the University of Auckland.

Winston Peters was a member of the University Rugby Club in Auckland and captain of the Auckland Maori Rugby team.

Winston Peters married his girlfriend Louise, and later worked as a lawyer at Russell McVeagh between 1974 and 1978.

Winston Peters entered national politics in 1975 general election, standing unsuccessfully for the National Party in the electorate seat of Northern Maori.

Winston Peters first became a member of parliament following the 1978 general election, but only after winning in the High Court an electoral petition which overturned the election-night result for the seat of Hunua against Malcolm Douglas, the brother of Roger Douglas.

Winston Peters lost this seat in 1981, but in 1984 he successfully stood in the electorate of Tauranga.

When Muldoon was replaced as leader by Jim McLay, Winston Peters retained only Maori Affairs in a reshuffle but was allocated the transport portfolio.

In March 1986 when McLay was replaced by Jim Bolger as leader, Winston Peters was nominated for the deputy leadership, but he declined the nomination.

Winston Peters became the National Party's spokesperson on Maori Affairs, Consumer Affairs, and Transport.

Winston Peters remained as a National backbencher, continuing to publicly criticise the party.

In late 1992, when the National Party was considering possible candidates for the elections in the following year, it moved to prevent Winston Peters from seeking renomination.

Winston Peters stood in Tauranga as an independent and won easily.

Shortly before the 1993 election in November, Winston Peters established New Zealand First in July of the same year.

Winston Peters started the Winebox Inquiry in 1994, which concerned companies using the Cook Islands as a tax haven.

Winston Peters had bitterly criticised his former National colleagues, and appeared to promise that he would not even consider a coalition with Bolger.

However, after over a month of negotiations with both parties, Winston Peters decided to enter into a coalition with National.

Michael Laws, then New Zealand First's campaign manager, later claimed that Winston Peters had already decided to enter into an agreement with National and used his negotiations with Labour simply to win more concessions from Bolger.

Whatever the case, Winston Peters exacted a very high price for allowing Bolger to stay on as Prime Minister.

Under the terms of a detailed coalition agreement, Winston Peters won a number of concessions that were highly unusual for a junior coalition partner in a Westminster system, especially one as new as New Zealand First.

Winston Peters became Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, the latter post created especially for him.

Winston Peters had full latitude to select the ministers from his own party, without approval from Bolger.

Winston Peters immediately broke off the coalition and led New Zealand First back into opposition.

Additionally, there was a wide perception that Winston Peters had led voters to believe a vote for New Zealand First would get rid of National, only to turn around and go into coalition with National.

Still in opposition, Winston Peters continued to promote his traditional policies, but became more noticeably concerned about immigration policies.

Winston Peters seemed to hope that Labour would choose to ally with New Zealand First to stay in power.

Winston Peters accused the Labour Party of having an "ethnic engineering and re-population policy".

In July 2005, Winston Peters said New Zealand should err on the side of caution in admitting immigrants until they "affirm their commitment to our values and standards".

Winston Peters promised to either give support in confidence and supply to the party with the most seats, or to abstain from no-confidence votes against it, and that he would not deal with any coalition that included the Greens.

Winston Peters pledged to keep post-election negotiations to under three weeks following criticism of the seven-week marathon it took to broker a deal with National in 1996.

In negotiations with Helen Clark after the election, Winston Peters secured the ministerial portfolios of Foreign Affairs and Racing in the Labour-led government, a move which apparently lay at odds with his earlier promise to refuse the "baubles of office".

Winston Peters was a member of the Executive Council, although he was outside cabinet; he was able to criticise the government in areas not related to his portfolios, which experts said was an unprecedented situation.

In October 2006, Winston Peters affirmed that he would continue to serve as leader for the 2008 election.

Winston Peters negotiated with then Prime Minister Helen Clark despite widespread opposition to the card on the grounds of high cost.

Winston Peters attracted media attention in 2008 over controversial payments for legal services and party donations.

Winston Peters had received $100,000 in 2006 to fund legal costs of challenging the election of Bob Clarkson to the Tauranga electorate.

Winston Peters denied knowing about the source of the money but this was not corroborated by his lawyer Brian Henry and Glenn contradicted Winston Peters's denial.

Jones confirmed that he had paid the money to the Spencer Trust and was asked by Winston Peters to make the donation.

Winston Peters denies that he had asked Jones for a donation to the party.

On 29 August 2008, Winston Peters offered to stand down from his portfolios as Foreign Affairs and Racing Minister, pending an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office as to whether the donations from Sir Bob Jones and the Vela brothers reached New Zealand First as intended.

On 10 September 2008, Winston Peters gave evidence to the Privileges Committee of the New Zealand Parliament in an attempt to refute evidence given by Owen Glenn.

Winston Peters was later cleared by the Serious Fraud Office with respect to political donations, however some matters were referred back to the Electoral Commission as it was determined that, while no fraud had taken place, some electoral law matters with regard to funding declarations were not complied with.

Winston Peters has referred to the affair as part of the "most vicious character assassination seen in any campaign this country has ever witnessed" and unsuccessfully sued Television New Zealand for defamation.

Winston Peters tried to regain Tauranga in the 2008 election and lost to National's Simon Bridges by a margin of 11,742 votes, a much larger loss than in 2005.

Winston Peters generally shunned the media spotlight following the 2008 election.

Winston Peters hinted at a political comeback and attacked the New Zealand government's review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act.

In late 2010 and early 2011 Winston Peters made a number of appearances on television and radio where he made it clear his and New Zealand First's intention to contest the 2011 election.

Shortly after the election, Winston Peters stated that his party would be in opposition and hold the "balance of responsibility".

Winston Peters denounced Dotcom as a "crooked German" who "had been here for five minutes".

Winston Peters was joined by Prime Minister and National Leader John Key and the Maori Party candidate Te Hira Paenga.

Winston Peters continued as New Zealand First spokesperson on finance, economic development, foreign affairs, racing and senior citizens, and as a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee.

Winston Peters publicly stated that re-entry to the mine would be non-negotiable in any coalition deal and dismissed claims that it was too dangerous to re-enter the mine.

Winston Peters responded that Coates' comments were the "height of stupidity".

Winston Peters rejected Turei's claims that New Zealand First was racist and warned that there would be consequences for the Greens in any post-election talks.

Winston Peters outlined his party's policies which included reducing immigration to 10,000 a year and nationalising the country's banks.

Winston Peters proposed making KiwiBank the New Zealand government's official trading bank.

In terms of law and order, Winston Peters said that his party would build no more prisons but would make prisoners do hard labour six days a week.

Since Winston Peters ranked first on the New Zealand First list, he remained in Parliament as a list MP.

Winston Peters indicated that he would not make his final decision until the special votes results were released on 7 October 2017.

Winston Peters clarified that the defeat of the Maori Party during the 2017 election had eliminated the rationale for his call to abolish the Maori electorates.

Winston Peters stated that foreign ownership of homes would be one of the topics discussed during negotiations with both National and Labour.

Winston Peters called for Labour to scrap its contentious water tax policy on farmers.

Winston Peters refused to negotiate with the Greens directly on the grounds that they had campaigned on a partnership with Labour.

Winston Peters described the Greens as a minor party with a minimal role in any potential government.

On 19 October 2017, Winston Peters announced that New Zealand First would form a coalition with the Labour Party under Jacinda Ardern, citing changing international and internal economic circumstances as the reasoning behind his decision, coupled with a belief that a Labour government was best-placed to handle the social and economic welfare of New Zealanders in a global environment that was undergoing rapid and seismic change.

On 26 October 2017, Winston Peters assumed the positions of Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister for State Owned Enterprises and Minister for Racing.

On 19 January 2018, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that she was pregnant and that Winston Peters would take the role of Acting Prime Minister for six weeks after the delivery, which happened on 21 June 2018.

Winston Peters declared that New Zealand First MPs would not be allowed a conscience vote on the issue and would vote as a caucus to support the bill at first reading.

Winston Peters warned that New Zealand First would withdraw support if the proposed law was not put to a public referendum.

Little rejected Winston Peters's demands for a referendum on the grounds that the legislation was a parliamentary matter.

In July 2019, during a visit to Washington, DC, Winston Peters proposed a bilateral free-trade agreement between New Zealand and the United States.

On 5 May 2020, Winston Peters expressed support for Taiwan rejoining the World Health Organization during a press conference.

Winston Peters's announcement was welcomed by the Taiwanese Government, which reiterated its friendship with New Zealand.

On 28 July 2020, Winston Peters announced that New Zealand was suspending its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to the Hong Kong national security law, which he claimed "eroded rule of law principles" and undermined the "one country, two systems" rule.

In late August 2017, Winston Peters admitted being overpaid in superannuation for seven years while living with his longtime partner Jan Trotman.

Winston Peters described it as a private matter and expressed outrage that it had been leaked.

However, the High Court ruled that Winston Peters's privacy had been deliberately breached during the lead-up to the 2017 general election to publicly embarrass him and cause him harm.

On 20 July 2020, Winston Peters was ordered by the Auckland High Court Justice Venning to pay a total $320,000 to the defendants Bennett and Tolley, State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes, the Ministry of Social Development and its former chief executive Brendan Boyle.

Winston Peters continued to serve in a caretaker role until 6 November 2020, after which he was replaced by Grant Robertson as Deputy Prime Minister, and Nanaia Mahuta as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

On 20 June 2021, Winston Peters announced during New Zealand First's annual general meeting in East Auckland that he would continue leading the party for the 2023 general election.

Winston Peters made a speech attacking the Labour, National and Green parties, the increasing use of the Maori language in official reports and public life, the Auckland cycle bridge, Auckland light rail, the Government's COVID-19 vaccination rollout, purchase of Ihumatao land, Bright Line Test, elimination of referenda on Maori wards, and so-called wokeness in New Zealand society.

In February 2022, Winston Peters expressed support for the Convoy 2022 New Zealand protest outside Parliament, which called for an end to vaccine mandates.

Winston Peters claimed that the mainstream media had been gaslighting protesters and urged Ardern and her Cabinet to speak with protesters.

On 3 May 2022, Winston Peters was trespassed from Parliament for two years by the Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard for visiting anti-vaccine mandate protesters.

In late March 2023, Winston Peters announced that if New Zealand First was elected into government, the party would remove Maori names from government departments and bring back English names.

Winston Peters had early publicly criticised several National and ACT policies during the 2023 election campaign including National's proposal to ease the ban on foreign home purchases, tax cuts, agricultural emissions pricing, proposal to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67, and ACT's proposal to slash government expenditure and public service jobs.

Winston Peters assumed the office of minister of foreign affairs in the new government.

Winston Peters took on the role of Acting Prime Minister for a single day on 12 December 2023, while Christopher Luxon was in Australia for his daughter's graduation, and again on 20 and 21 December 2023 during Luxon's diplomatic visit to Australia.

On 15 December 2023, Winston Peters visited Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in his first overseas engagement as Foreign Minister in the National-led coalition government.

Winston Peters reaffirmed bilateral relations between New Zealand and Fiji.

On 12 January 2024, Winston Peters expressed New Zealand's support for Anglo-American airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen, which had been disrupting international shipping in response to the Gaza war.

Between 10 and 16 March 2024, Winston Peters undertook a tour of India, Indonesia and Singapore where he met with his foreign counterparts Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Retno Marsudi and Vivian Balakrishnan, Chief Minister of Gujarat Bhupendrabhai Patel, Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and Clermont Group chair Richard Chandler.

Winston Peters voiced New Zealand's concerns about human rights in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet, and tensions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

Winston Peters later reaffirmed his support for Gaza at the United Nations, calling the situation an "utter catastrophe".

Winston Peters then concluded his tour in Europe by visiting Stockholm and meeting with Tobias Billstrom.

Winston Peters then travelled to Washington DC, where he met with numerous prominent American political figures including Senator Lindsey Graham.

Winston Peters then concluded his tour after meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, where Winston Peters indicated a shift in longstanding New Zealand Foreign Policy, with a desire for a closer partner between New Zealand and the United States expressed.

Winston Peters responded, saying Clark "would regret the comments she's making" and that the "decision to at least explore association with AUKUS Pillar 2 was no different to the policy of the previous Labour Government".

However, Winston Peters did state that recognition would have to come at a later date, and would not encompass recognition of Hamas as its own entity.

Winston Peters has criticised Bob Carr, formerly the Premier of New South Wales and the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, for his criticism of AUKUS, including a seminar he gave in Wellington against it with Helen Clark in April 2024.

On 12 May, Winston Peters met with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, who had succeeded Manasseh Sogavare following the 2024 Solomon Islands general election.

On 14 May, Winston Peters cancelled plans to visit New Caledonia in response to the 2024 New Caledonia unrest.

On 7 June 2024, Winston Peters announced that New Zealand would resume its annual NZ$1 million funding to UNRWA that month.

Between 16 and 18 July 2024, Winston Peters attended the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting in Tokyo with other members of the Pacific Islands Forum, French Polynesia and host country Japan.

Meanwhile, the Kanaky Aotearoa Solidarity group expressed disappointment that Winston Peters had not supported the Melanesian Spearhead Group's calls for a UN mission to New Caledonia.

Between 8 and 16 August 2024, Winston Peters led a delegation to visit Fiji and the three Micronesian states of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau as part of New Zealand's Pacific reset strategy.

In mid October 2024, Winston Peters rebuffed Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown's proposal for a separate Cook Islands passport.

Winston Peters questioned whether Cook Islanders supported Brown's proposal and warned of its implications for the territory's status as an associated state.

In late January 2025, Winston Peters announced that the New Zealand Government would review its bilateral aid programme to Kiribati after Kiribati President Taneti Maamau cancelled three pre-arranged meetings including one scheduled for mid January 2025.

In early February 2025, Winston Peters objected to Cook Islands Prime Minister Brown's plans to sign a partnership agreement with China during a state visit to China between 10 and 14 February, describing it as a breach of the free association agreement between New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

Winston Peters said that neither New Zealand nor the Cook Islands people knew the contents of the agreement and described the partnership agreement as a "second upset" following Brown's aborted Cook Islands passport proposal.

Winston Peters argued that the Cook Islands did not need to consult New Zealand on the matter.

On 13 February 2025, Winston Peters spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar by phone about the importance of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the need for its full implementation including the release of all hostages and the resumption of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

On 26 February 2025, Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to raise New Zealand's concerns about Chinese naval exercises in the Tasman Sea and China's recent partnership agreement with the Cook Islands.

Winston Peters said that Goff's remarks made him unsuitable to represent New Zealand in the UK and tasked the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Bede Corry, with appointing a replacement.

In late January 2024, Winston Peters was part of a delegation of government ministers from the National and New Zealand First parties that attended the annual hui at the Ratana Church's pa near Whanganui.

Winston Peters responded by telling protesters to "get an education" and "get some manners".

On 17 March 2024, Winston Peters delivered a State of the Nation speech in Palmerston North where he likened the previous Labour Government's co-governance policies to "race-based theory" in Nazi Germany.

Winston Peters' remarks likening co-governance to Nazism and the Holocaust were criticised by the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand's spokesperson Ben Kepes, who described them as offensive to Holocaust victims and survivors.

Winston Peters later announced that Luxon was "misinformed" by the media about his state of the nation speech, quoting Luxon that he never listened to it.

British anarchist punk band Chumbawamba objected to Winston Peters using their song Tubthumping for political campaigning and expressed disagreement with his politics.

In late June 2024, Winston Peters invoked the first use of the "agree to disagree" provisions in the coalition agreements in response to the Government's announcement that it would allow the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned in its present form and retain Tony Blakely as its chair.

Winston Peters' allegations were disputed by Interislander operations general manager Duncan Roy.

On 23 March 2025, Winston Peters delivered a state of the nation speech at the James Hay Theatre in Christchurch, focusing on alleged wokeism and DEI issues.

On 11 December 2024, Winston Peters was appointed as the Minister for Rail.

On 1 March 2025, Winston Peters embarked on an international tender to find a builder to build two cheaper and smaller rail-enabled ferries to replace the current Interislander vessels.

Winston Peters visited HD Hyundai Mipo's headquarters in Seoul to discuss the tender proposal.

Winston Peters told Radio New Zealand that Hyundai was open to considering bidding to build the two replacement ferries based on the new size specifications.

On 31 March 2025, Winston Peters released details of the two new Interislander replacement ferries, which will be 200m long, 28m wide and have rail decks.

Winston Peters confirmed that the government was searching for a shipyard to build the ferries and is expected to sign a contract in late 2025.

Winston Peters has been labelled a nationalist and a populist by political commentators.

Winston Peters has used anti-establishment and anti-elite rhetoric, such as criticising what he regards as the "intellectually arrogant elite in government and bureaucratic circles".

Winston Peters favours cutting taxes; however, he was critical of the free market policies enacted by the fourth Labour and fourth National governments in the 1980s and 1990s, opposing privatisations and deregulation.

Winston Peters's platform retains elements of National Party economic policy from the Muldoon era.

Winston Peters has cultivated support among the elderly in particular, and support for his party has been concentrated among New Zealanders over 60 years of age.

Winston Peters is opposed to high levels of immigration, in order "to avoid New Zealand's identity, values and heritage being swamped".

Winston Peters has highlighted the "threat" of immigration in both cultural and economic terms.

Winston Peters responded that Statistics New Zealand had underestimated the growth-rate of the Asian community in the past.

In 2000 Winston Peters described the risk of dog meat gaining popularity in New Zealand if Asian immigration continued, saying that such "abused flesh is highly valued as an aphrodisiac by these ghouls".

In June 2016, Winston Peters advocated interviewing immigrants and reducing immigration numbers between 7,000 and 15,000 a year on TVNZ's Q+A show.

Winston Peters clarified that he was not opposed to refugees nor Muslim migrants per se.

Winston Peters has a history of personally insulting politicians he disagrees with across the political spectrum.

The Spinoff has described Winston Peters as having "dexterity of language that can make his insults really sing".

When Simon Bridges led the National Party, Winston Peters mocked his thick Tauranga accent and labelled him a "joke" during question time.

Winston Peters is known for his long-standing feud with ACT New Zealand leader and current coalition partner David Seymour.

Winston Peters denied deliberately ignoring Seymour and claimed he thought the message was fake.

Winston Peters has insulted Bob Carr, former Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Premier of New South Wales, for his stance on AUKUS.

Winston Peters is an ardent supporter of Brexit, having made a speech to the British House of Lords praising the idea ahead of that year's referendum on the issue.

Winston Peters is friends with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and the significant Vote Leave campaign funder Arron Banks.

Later that year, Winston Peters confirmed that Brexit political operatives were working on the unsuccessful New Zealand First campaign to return to Parliament.

In 2018, Farage reiterated his affection for Winston Peters and claimed he was New Zealand's "own version" of Donald Trump.

In March 2017, Winston Peters criticised the then Foreign Minister Murray McCully for endorsing United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 without consulting his fellow Cabinet ministers.

In 2005, Winston Peters made a speech titled The End Of Tolerance.

Winston Peters has condemned discrimination on the basis of religion and he denounced Islamophobia following the Christchurch mosque shootings.

Winston Peters called for the terrorist perpetrator to be deported to his home country Australia.

Winston Peters added that efforts towards combating Islamophobia should not be used to "shield the actions of terrorists in the name of Islam".

In September 2023, Winston Peters claimed that Maori were not indigenous to New Zealand on the grounds that they originated in the Cook Islands and China.

In mid March 2024, Winston Peters controversially likened co-governance to Nazi race theory, drawing criticism from the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand's spokesperson Ben Kepes and Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins.

Winston Peters' remarks had contradicted statements by Christopher Luxon and Shane Jones during Maori King Tuheitia Paki's Koroneihana that the National and NZ First parties would not support the Treaty Principles Bill beyond its first reading.

Winston Peters has a fraught relationship with the New Zealand media.

On 21 May 1998, Winston Peters was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and gained the style of "The Right Honourable".

In 2007, Winston Peters was bestowed with the chiefly Samoan title Vaovasamanaia, meaning "beautiful, handsome, awesome, delighted and joyful".

The couple have two children, a son named Joel Winston Peters and a daughter named Bree Winston Peters, who is an actress.