Winston Peters promises help for Waihi residents

New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is speaking in Waihi this afternoon as part of his pre-election campaign.

Mr Peters said NZ First would put New Zealanders first

"New Zealand workers have ended up as cheap labour for overseas investors to exploit. This trend must be reversed," he said.

The MP discussed the issues facing Waihi east residents with the changing mining activities of Newmont, and referenced the party's Royalties for the Regions policy which would see 25 per cent of the royalties from the Newmont mines stay in the region.

He also spoke about the KiwiFund, a government owned KiwiSaver provider, to encourage savings that would support buying back our assets and investing in our infrastructure.

New Zealand First would fund the dignity of the elderly, he said.

"New Zealand First's policy is to preserve the entitlement of New Zealanders to receive NZ Superannuation at 65 years, a universal non-contributory publicly funded pension scheme with no means-testing."

He said the country's unemployment rate was "an appalling waste of human talent and is not acceptable to New Zealand First".

New Zealand First offered a comprehensive range of social and economic policies to do three things, he said.

"Deliver a decent standard of living for all New Zealanders, stop other parties squandering all that is of value and restore New Zealand to stable and cohesive democracy. "