Party time: They came, they spoke ... the party was better

By JULIE MIDDLETON

Underwhelmed might be a good description. Winston Peters, Bill English and Richard Prebble wooed Pacific Islanders yesterday ... and created a wave of indifference.

"When it comes to hard-core 'this is what we're going to do'," said Porirua social services manager Geraldine Clifford, "there ain't much substance."

Praise of Pacific achievements wasn't enough.

Of course, each of the pollies received a polite reception at the Pacific Economic Symposium at Waipuna Lodge in Mt Wellington.

National leader English was accompanied by his Samoan wife, Mary, and Prebble arrived with the elegant Doreen, a Solomon Islander. Peters turned up with fatigue etched all over his face.

Although many of those at the two-day conference had partied late the night before, they still expected something better than an unfocused rote-delivery ramble that didn't pinpoint their people.

The burning question was asked: which New Zealand First policies catered for the burgeoning Pacific population?

Peters' answer wasn't what they wanted to hear: "Our policies are not made on the basis of race or gender or background."

But he said foreign aid was better spent solely in the Pacific on education, medicine and health. Air New Zealand had to be retained for the links it provided to the islands.

English promised National's support for community-based economic development plans and bulk funding of schools.

He pushed home investment rather than state housing, telling how his father-in-law opted for his own home and "two jobs for 37 years" to raise 13 children.

English was "okay", if uninspiring, said Geraldine Clifford. But he was tainted by association: "I still remember Jenny Shipley talking about Pacific Islanders jumping through windows."

Prebble was the first chairman of the Pacific Business Trust.

But even he was short on the specifically Pacific, apart from saying that Act wanted to build a strong economy by cutting business compliance costs and taxes.

And, he said, "we won't have made it until we have a captain of industry from the Pacific."

It wasn't just lacklustre performances by the politicians that failed to inspire.

Although younger Pacific people were increasingly less likely to follow their parents' traditional Labour leanings, said Fijian journalist Ruci Farrell, they could see the party was sleepwalking to victory and their attentions were generally closer to home.

"We're interested in things Pacific rather than things New Zealand. We're too far removed from Wellington."

Samoan actor and playwright Oscar Kightley, the MC and still an undecided voter, summed up the mood.

"A lot of the political leaders ... don't recognise the impact of the brown vote," he said. "I don't think they take seriously enough what Pacific Island people can do."

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