Editorial: Peters brings air of change

NZ First leader Winston Peters

I bumped into Winston Peters on Saturday. He was at La Nonna Italian Bakery at Kaiwaka.

La Nonna means "grandmother" in Italian.

In the grandmother's embrace sat the Godfather of Northland politicians, savvily munching his pie in arguably the region's busiest cafe.

The first time I met Peters, back in the mid-1990s, he was chomping on a pie then too.

He'd got a whiff of the controversy National had created in Whangarei by suggesting a prison should be built west of Whangarei in probably one of the bluest farming belts in the country.

Peters turned up for a piece of that, and a pie which he finished in his car before brushing crumbs off one of his famous suits and charming the local media. Saturday, between bites, he explained he was heading for the Dargaville Field Days. Campaigning, after announcing he was standing in the Northland electorate for a crack at the vacancy Mike Sabin's resignation has created. He asked who I thought might get the National party nomination. I ventured it might be Maungaturoto farmer Grant McCallum.

I gave him my business card, noticing before it deftly disappeared into a breast pocket that it was covered in ink from the discount coffee card from my local cafe.

I'm not expecting too many phones calls from Winston re my political views. He may not be able to read the business card, and McCallum didn't win the nomination.

I did venture the opinion that there was a sense in some quarters that National needed to show some love to Northland, a district with its fair share of social issues that theoretically should attract interest in the policies of the left.

But conservatively, the Northland electorate continues to vote National.

The question now, is whether there is a sense that it's time for a change in policy. Or personality - one as strong as Peters could shake the electorate up. I won't venture to pick the result, given my recent history.

But I can say with confidence, that like many many things involving a Peters in Northland, life is a lot more interesting when one shows up to do business, or battle.