Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters looks back on the 25 years since New Zealand's inception

Winston Peters talks with political editor Audrey Young about the 25 hectic years since he formed New Zealand First.

Q. Do you remember when you wanted to form your own party or did it just change?

We remember thinking about forming a party at the end of 1988, when we saw that, despite our campaign to change Rogernomics, there was a cabal in the National Party that was doing its best not to do it. Then we went in 1990 and campaigned to change Rogernomics and threw out practically the night of the elections because the next day we had an agreement with Fay Richwhite for the BNZ and it became apparent at that time that they were not going to change.

Q. Is there anyone you could not have done without [president] Doug Woolerton or [lawyer] Brian Henry?
All these people, including those who worked hard on the ground, like Jack Hinton, a former Victoria Cross winner, and his wife, Molly, were campaigning for us in Christchurch in 1993, beating the door and distributing brochures. His feet were all swollen and he took off his shoes and went barefoot. He went to one side of the road and the woman on the other side of the road. It was the kind of commitment we received from people.

Q. What do you remember from the actual launch at Alexandra Parkwaywaywayway
A. I remember we had to choose a place where there were enough people, it was very, very difficult because we could not get the right place given the number of people who would introduce themselves. I remember a few warm-ups like the best lawnmower in the world, David Fagan, who sheared the sheep in front of the crowd to let them know that it had a serious provincial or regional facet.

Q. What is the secret of your party's survival when so many other small parties have failed?
Well, that could be an ironic statement, but that 's the caliber of the people who trained it and who stuck it all over the country.

Q. But in fact, you've had a lot of disgruntled MPs over the years, not just in 1998, so there are many who have not stayed with them.
Well, they came in with the easiest ride to Parliament that everyone will see and forget who put them there. They were bought by the prime minister seeking to undermine the coalition.

Q. Why do you hate that New Zealand First calls the party Winston Peters?
Because that's not it. Never been. It is the politics of assassination and smearing of character that is common and we see it everywhere. This is the language of someone who can not say anything in terms of solid argument against your politics or your political programs, so they resort to assassination. It's so simple – except that they've been struggling for 25 years, what are they saying now?

Q. Where do you want to be in five years?
We would like to be in government in five years.
Q. Including you?
A. I thought you meant "we" celebration. Where I am not really important. What matters is that the party is there and strong and does things in accordance with its 15 founding principles and that it is stronger than ever. You will have noticed that the field of competition has decreased.

Q. But it's not your competitors who fall by the wayside, is not it?
A number of them are constructions of the other parties to try to beat New Zealand First and this failed.

Q. Did you say you were definitely up next time?
I've never, far from an election, said I'm going to do something like that. I just did the work I do at the time.

Q. How is the party different today than it was 25 years ago?
We are now part of Minister Ron Mark, Tracey Martin and Shane Jones, I dare say it myself. People like Fletcher Tabuteau, Darroch Ball, Jenny Marcroft, people who have experience there, and Clayton Mitchell, that kind of people, Mark Patterson, all seriously serious.

Q. You named it all.
They are all solid. We have never been in better shape in terms of the qualities I am talking about.

Q. What are you most proud of?
I am proud of the fact that we have never been discouraged by the serious challenges, including the fact of coping with huge corporate funds, which we have not had. never been discouraged from doing what we wanted to do in the end. Either they would change as political parties or we would start a party to change them and the result. And I'm proud of the fact that we stayed there and did it. It was an enormously expensive experience but it's not the goal. We did it.

Q. What is your biggest disappointment?
The biggest disappointment is that when attacks took place, we simply did not take seriously the environment we were in, in terms of the likelihood that this would happen. This always surprises you when such attacks happen and will probably always happen, but I suppose that would be a disappointment. When you look forward, you must always have a listening ear to what is happening behind your back to try to get you out.

Q. Are you talking about 2008 or 1998?
I am talking about 1998 – they did their best to try to get rid of us – and 2008 again. There were several times we were in extremely difficult circumstances because these attacks were coming and you could not afford to leave and be retrospective. You had to keep your face on the future.

Q. How important has the dispute been in your political history?
This was critical otherwise they could have learned and they would have won.
Q. What is it specifically?
A. Even before I went, I was facing all kinds of defamation cases from at least seven parties involving millions and millions of dollars and we knew we had to face them and they had all the money in the world but what they could not do it was a discovery, that we had to mount a case against them all, and make a discovery request and that 's it. is what made them close and there are many examples like that.

Q. Has the interim Prime Minister been a career highlight?
No. I know that the commentariat will find that hard to believe, but it was never my goal to start a party and to be prime minister and I said it and I just got that because that ultimately, what was more important a change in the country and continue to make a change in the country and reshape the policy in line with the very centrist philosophy that we have. And this is seen today.

Q. You went to each election saying that you could go with one or the other party. Do you think that you will participate in the next elections with this position?
This is never a discussion that I came to as a conclusion myself. It was always a serious caucus discussion as to how we would do it. And that will be the case when we come to the 2020 election, the same discussion because every caucus is different.
Q. I find it hard to believe that you could withdraw from the next Coalition elections and say that you would go with anyone. How did you celebrate on Wednesday?
We had no time to do it. I was in Riverton and Invercargill during the night, so we postponed that. We are everywhere in the country and we could not stop when we have a serious regional program that we are all working on right now.

Q. Is there anything else you want to say about the last 25 years, the first 25 years?
We were very motivated by the song of Frank Sinatra, which allowed us to find ourselves face down and get up and resume the race. It's a song that's called That's Life
It says, "It's life, I can not deny it, I thought about quitting but I can not buy it. "

WINSTON PETERS – FIRST STEPS NZ

1979: Winston Peters is elected national deputy for Hunua. He loses his seat in 1981.

1984: Peters wins the Tauranga electorate for National

1990: He is appointed Minister of Maori Affairs, but sacked by Jim Bolger in 1991 for criticizing the leadership.

1992: Expelled from National Party Caucus

1993: Peters resigns from Parliament by forcing a by-election in Tauranga in February, which he wins as an independent. Launch of the NZ First on July 18 on the circuit of Alexandra Park

1993: wins Tauranga in the general elections and Tau Henare wins the Northern Maori and becomes a deputy, inaugurating the first two deputies New Zealand

1996 : Party wins 17 seats first MMP election, including the five Maori seats. Joined coalition with National, led by Jim Bolger, with nine New Zealand prime ministers and Peters as treasurer and deputy premier

1998: After a coup against Bolger in 1997, Prime Minister Jenny Shipley puts Winston Peters at the door. Eight new New Zealand deputies fail to stay with the national government

1999: NZ First gets 4.3% but Peters retains his seat in Tauranga with only 63 votes and the party survives with five deputies

2002: NZ First secures 10.4 2005: Peters loses Tauranga in favor of Bob Clarkson of National, but gets 5.7% of the Party's votes and 7 deputies. He concludes a trust and supply agreement with the Helen Clark Labor government with Peters as Minister of Foreign Affairs

2008: Peters retires from ministerial roles in donation investigations. The Privilege Committee sanctions Peters for failing to declare a gift from Owen Glenn. National leader John Key rules out an agreement with Peters. New Zealand gets 4.07% in the elections and is absent from Parliament for three years while the national government

2011: New Zealand gets 6.6% in the elections and returns with 8 MPs. Brendan Horan is later deported for a dispute over his mother's wishes, but remains in parliament as an independent.

2014: The party returns to parliament with 8.66 percent and 11 deputies but no electorate seat. National gets a third term.

2015: Peters wins the Northland by-election, getting an additional list of MPs, bringing the total to 12.

2017: Peters loses Northland but the party returns to Parliament with 7.2% and nine deputies, the balance of power. Selects Labor-Led Government with Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister, Peters as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and three other Cabinet Ministers NZ First

2018: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern takes six weeks to have a baby . Prime Minister.