New Zealand First kick off election campaign

4.00pm

Labour would not win enough votes to govern alone and New Zealanders had to decide whether they wanted the "second horse" in the election race to be the Greens, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said today.

New Zealand needed a "responsible and experienced" third party to provide a check on the Government, as NZ First had done for the past 2-1/2 years, he said.

Mr Peters today kicked off his election campaign in his electorate of Tauranga, urging local voter support by saying there was too much happening in the city for a novice to start learning.

NZ First has been polling below the 5 per cent threshold needed to get MPs into Parliament without winning an electorate seat.

Mr Peters' party is reliant on his retaining his electorate and he said today that how Tauranga voted on election day would greatly influence the outcome of the election and New Zealand's future.

He warned against majority governments, saying Labour and National had caused havoc when they had governed alone.

This election was part of an historic political sea-change that occurred in New Zealand once every 50 to 60 years.

National faced its worst defeat in its history and its supporters were in disarray.

NZ First had been quietly getting ready for this election, he said.

"We have known that New Zealand needs a responsible opposition party as we have been since 1999, supporting sound policies and opposing destructive ones."

Labour would not get enough votes to govern alone and the election came down to whether the country wanted "control by the Greens".

He outlined NZ First's key campaigns on law and order, immigration and the Treaty of Waitangi "grievance industry".

- NZPA