In his final speech of the 54th Parliament, Winston Peters set out what he says New Zealand First achieved in government and challenged his political opponents over their records. His address also raised questions about how public spending, health decisions and national infrastructure should be judged by their effects on New Zealanders
Report by eLocal
In Parliament’s adjournment debate on 23 September, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters thanked the staff who keep the House operating before turning to his party’s record over the parliamentary term. He presented the speech as an account of commitments made, measures pursued and work he wants carried into the next Parliament. It was also a political speech delivered before an election: its claims about achievements and opponents should be distinguished from independently measured outcomes.
Regional Investment and the Cost of Getting Things Built
Peters pointed to the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund as an example of investment intended to strengthen regional economies. He linked that funding to productive assets, jobs and opportunities for young people. The fund’s existence and appropriations are documented in parliamentary records; the lasting value of individual projects will depend on what is completed, their costs and the benefits they deliver to communities.
He also highlighted funding for rail and the replacement Cook Strait ferries. The Government announced up to $1.075 billion for KiwiRail’s planned 2027–2030 network investments, alongside separate funding for metropolitan rail renewals. Peters claimed the ferry programme would save $2.3 billion compared with the previous approach. That savings figure is his comparison of procurement approaches, not a demonstrated final saving from completed vessels and infrastructure.
For households and local businesses, the practical questions are whether rail and ferry services become more reliable, freight costs are competitive and public investment produces assets that remain useful over time. Those outcomes matter more than the size of an announced allocation alone.
Health, the Pandemic Response and Accountability
Peters cited repeal of the Therapeutic Products Act, youth mental-health counselling and the expanded Royal Commission examining New Zealand’s COVID-19 response. He criticised the previous Labour Government’s vaccination decisions and employment mandates, including their effects on teachers and nurses.
His speech made specific claims about vaccination advice for 12-to-17-year-olds and the number of young people who received second doses. Those statements are reproduced in the transcript below as his words; the supplied speech transcript is not itself evidence sufficient to establish the underlying medical or administrative findings. Assessing those claims requires the Commission’s report, contemporaneous advice, eligibility rules and records of the decisions taken.
There is a broader accountability question that extends beyond party politics: what did ministers and officials know at each decision point, what alternatives were considered, and how were benefits, risks and consequences for workers and families weighed? A public record that distinguishes the advice available at the time from later findings is essential to that assessment.
Treaty, Identity and the Limits of Political Agreement
Peters reiterated his opposition to the development of Treaty principles in legislation and public policy. He described his preferred interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi and criticised Labour and other parties over the direction of Treaty-related policy. These are contested legal, historical and political questions. His description of the Treaty and its principles should be read as his party’s position, not as a settled account of the Treaty’s meaning or the law.
He also referred to recognition of English as an official language and to the role of national identity in New Zealand First’s programme. The consequences of any legislative change depend on its precise wording and how public agencies, courts and affected communities apply it.
Foreign Affairs and New Zealand’s Room to Act
As Foreign Minister, Peters described visits to Pacific states and China as part of rebuilding New Zealand’s international relationships. In a separate address reported earlier that week, he warned against hasty responses to overseas crises that could carry economic consequences for a trade-dependent country. The common theme is the relationship between diplomatic choices, national security and New Zealand’s economic exposure.
For New Zealanders, the relevant measures are practical: access to export markets, security in the Pacific, reliable supply chains and the ability to make decisions in the country’s own interests while meeting its international commitments. A minister’s travel and meetings show diplomatic activity; the resulting agreements and outcomes provide the basis for assessing its effects.
Will This in Fact Make New Zealand Stronger?
Will this in fact make New Zealand stronger? Peters’ speech identified investments and policy changes that he argues will improve national resilience and opportunity. Whether they strengthen New Zealand in practice depends on the quality of the assets delivered, the affordability and reliability of essential services, the effects on households and businesses, and whether government decisions remain transparent and accountable.
The same standard applies to his criticisms of previous governments and his proposals for the next term. Claims of savings need comparable costings; claims of improved services need measured results; and claims about past decisions need the underlying documentary record. New Zealanders can then assess the record without relying solely on the competing accounts offered in an election campaign.
Sources
Winston Peters’ Final Speech of the 54th Parliament: Transcript
Delivered 23 September 2026 | Source: New Zealand First
Editor’s note: The text below reproduces the supplied automated transcript with timestamps and automated chapter headings removed. It contains apparent transcription errors in names and phrases and has not been verified word for word against the video. The speaker’s political claims are presented as spoken, not as independently verified findings. The recording is available here.
Thank you for that applause. The the right honorable Winston Peters. As this parliament adjourns, it's appropriate to accord our thanks to the cleaners, the library staff, the security teams, hence hard staff, committee clerks, chauffeurs, receptionists, and every other work in this house, including yourself, Mr. Speaker, your deputy and assistant speakers. Now, German debates are traditionally a time to outline the record of a politician's record in this house across the term of parliament. Unlike others, we have the rare privilege of actually having a record.
That is why we say thank you to Shane Jones, Casey Gello, Mark Patterson, Jenny Marro, and their team supporting them in their government portfolios and indeed to the entire New Zealand First Caucus and our team. We are a party limited by standing orders to only four members bills at any one time, but we have introduced 56 private members bills in the last term. 56. That means we've done the work. We've done the research. We're not all talk. Fast on the lip and stolen hip. No, we do the action work. These bills, these bills represent. Now, you can cheer letter. You You can applaud letter. These bills have represent new ideas in line with New Zealand first values of social conservatism, patriotism, economic nationalism, and common sense. Our bills will be ready to be adopted in the forthcoming coalition agreement and members of our supporting governing parties will no doubt look forward to advancing the interest of the common man and woman in the next term of parliament. But we cannot get too far ahead of ourselves because there is much too much good news to share in our record of this term. When New Zealand first makes an agreement, we keep our word. We're famous for it, too.
And you need to not judge us only by our words but by our deeds. By their deeds. We said we said the regions needed investment and we invested 1.2 billion through the regional infrastructure fund. Money directed into productive and resilient assets around this country. Jobs, jobs and jobs and wealth created in New Zealand with training chances for our young people. We said the therapeutic products built act was the wrong law. overtly complicated, over bureaucratic and a threat to the natural health products sector and it was repealed. We said young New Zealanders waiting for mental health assistance needed to practical help right then with providers like Gamboo Friday here and we kept our promise here by never November last year more than 40,000 counseling sessions had been delivered through the gamboo Friday program we said English the international language of commerce and the language used overwhelming in this house including by the greens on a good day and should have the same statuto recognition of its official status that other official languages have. And on 7th of August this year, that became the law. Yeah. God save the king.
We said New Zealanders were entitled to a wider examination of the country's response to the CO 19 occurrence and not a mark your own homework exercise as happened under Labor. The expanded Royal Commission completed its work and delivered its final report in February this year. It found young people between 12 and 17 were given second doses when Chris Hipkins and Aza Berl were told not to do that. Shocking. 311,000 young people wrongly got the dose. Shameful. If Labour found scarring amongst nurses and teachers, meaning training professionals who were distately desperate need in hospitals and classrooms, and they sacked them, they mandated them out of a job and then they get in every house every day and talk about lack of nurses and doctors, the hundreds and hundreds of which they sacked. The opposition yells about the need for more teachers and nurses. Well, shame on them for mandating them out of the profession.
We said our citizens deserved recognition and practical support and the budget 26 fund of the next generation of the super gold card including the option of a free physical ID that seniors have long called for and there there is the question of the infrastructure while others campaign to get our country back on track. You need look no further at New Zealand first to give evidence of who actually delivered it. 1.075 075 billion for rail network funding in in budget 2026. The first time ever a full three-year program has been funded in advance, not fiscal cliffs like under Labor. And on the Cook Straight, we fixed the fairies for road and rail. And we're going to save $2.3 billion from the idiocy we inherited where the fairies would have cost the fairies were going to cost 20% of the total cost. So you go and buy fairies and they spent 80% of the money on infrastructure. How foolish. Go and look at Tasmania and see what where that got us. 2.3 billion saved. Two Don't argue about the the common sense of this. I know you're slow. Can I ask you this question? What's your business background? What's your business background? Zero. Zero. Exactly. It's hard to It ain't hard to get it right when you have experience. Unlike the last lot who pursued palatial departmental lounges and wanted to lift the yard so high that Noah could bur could birth his ark. And when the fuel crisis hit our shores, who ensured we finally sorted out increased storage at Marsen Point by nine days, just like that. That's right. It was New Zealand first.
Likewise, this house has finally grappled with the 1980s misadventure of the the legal fraternity to invent treaty principles. Now, I know imitation is most seems to be a form of flattery, but how many people now agree with us? I Maori leaders like Nata, Paumari, Buck and Carol all understood the treaty was a pack between two peoples to create one nation, one people under one flag and with one name and they understood the treaty has no principles in it. This country's had up to here with the wah wah wanga delivered nothing but grievance founded on spirious words invented by the Labour party. The country respects the treaty signed in 1840, not the madeup nonsense written in the 1980s university clubouses. That's right. And that's why we have repealed those provisions with certain legislation. And we have more work ahead of us. That is what it looks like to understand reality. We know what a treaty is. We know what a woman is. Aha. We know. We know what re Oh, it's got them going. One more time. We know what a woman is. And And no, no. Hush for a while. And we know what real politics looks like in foreign affairs. We've got the experience. The others all talk.
In our efforts. In our efforts, we have spent eight months abroad rebuilding New Zealand's relationship with the world, including visiting all 17 Pacific member states and China. Yes, I've been at China, not once, but twice. Oh, yes. A great relationship with China. Of course, I was the first guy to ever a business connection with China when I did the export education in 1997. The first deal ever. You've all forgotten it. So, we've been offshore for eight months. But look, we've spent more time in this house than every Maori Party MP combined, including the two got chucked out. That's right. Now, tell me, what on earth's going on the mainstream media when I have to tell you that information? That's right. All this time since 1867, the law was changed to send Mario to this parliament and they don't turn up for the first time ever. Shame. Shame.
Members, there's much more work ahead to fix this country. And to govern a country, you need to know the ropes. The world is tough out there in reality. And away from the cloistered comfort of the Green and Labor Party MPs in the leafy suburbs. We, the party who ensured the minimum wage is lifted and strengthened the fasttrack legislation to enable industry to create jobs for our own, know what hard work looks like. That's right. New Zealanders are sick and tired of globalist ideologies. capturing politicians and leading to industries closing down and people losing their jobs. Look, come to Tong on Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock to Trinity. It'll be wallto-wall again. The only P that's filling the halls in this country. It's called democracy. It's called market share and it's called logic. Now come and learn. You just might find out something. You see, the Greens have been here trying for parliament since 1972. 54 years and have never been in cabinet. 54 years. Never been in cabinet. 50. No, no, no. 54 years. 54 years. Oh, bye-bye Winston. Stand back, sunshine. I got news for you. I'm coming back real big time. We're coming back with an army. We're going to come back much bigger. Oh, don't wave out to me. I'm going to You should get up shortly and make your validictory speech cuz you guys are going to be out of here. No, we're coming back. Not for the first time. Cuz out there out there, there are hundreds of thousands of people who realize one thing. There's a party that understands this country better than the other. And it offers real hope for tomorrow. Thank you very much.