New party joins United to court disenchanted smokers

For 102 years cigarette smoke filled the Provincial Hotel in Christchurch, seeping into the furnishings and leaving a permanent odour that lingers today.

Last December the smoking went, and publican Les Nawisielski says so did 15 per cent of his profits.

Yesterday Mr Nawisielski happily hosted a new political alliance in the rickety old pub - one that he hopes will return commonsense to politics, reverse the ban on smoking in bars and stop the "bossy boots" Government interfering in businesses and people's lives.

That new political alliance is between United Future and the little-known party that was set up to fight the smoking ban - Win.

Win is the latest in a list of small parties, including Outdoor Recreation, that have been swallowed by United Future.

Yesterday, leaning on the bar in his pinstripe suit, United Future leader Peter Dunne announced Win leader John van Buren would stand as United Future's candidate in Christchurch Central.

Mr Dunne said the new alliance was about far more than just smoking - it was about returning rights to ordinary New Zealanders and showing Labour that people had had a "gutsful" of being told what to do.

"This is about making a stand about rules and petty regulations because people are saying enough is enough. There was a line and I think there is a sense that the Government has crossed it."

Mr Dunne, who himself occasionally smokes cigars and pipes, said there was a feeling among New Zealanders that Labour MPs had taken it upon themselves to decide what was best for them, and that people believed the Government did not trust them to run their own lives.

He did not think United Future's aligning itself with the pro-smoking party would be detrimental or cost it votes, and said Labour would not be surprised by the alliance as United Future had always been opposed to the smoking ban.

Mr van Buren said Win, which was formed at the beginning of the year, would never have made it into Parliament by itself. United Future shared the same principles and was the obvious party to work with.

In Christchurch Central he will be up against Labour's Tim Barnett, who he says is his opposite politically and personally.

"I'm you're average Kiwi," said Mr van Buren, a former publican who says the smoking ban and other draconian legislation spelled financial disaster for his business.

Mr van Buren said his main reason for entering politics was to restore balance to New Zealand.