No place for our families in Peters' NZ, say MPs

By AUDREY YOUNG and JOHN ARMSTRONG

On the day Winston Peters made his most blatant attack yet on Asian immigration, Act MPs Richard Prebble and Rodney Hide slammed him as racist and said they took his tactics personally because of their wives.

Mr Prebble's wife, Doreen, comes from the Solomon Islands. Mr Hide's wife, Jiuan Jiuan, is Malaysian Chinese.

Mr Prebble said Mr Peters, the New Zealand First leader, had previously been careful with his language on immigration so he could deny being accused of racism.

"He can't this campaign."

Soon after Mr Prebble's press conference, Mr Peters issued speech notes from a Christchurch meeting yesterday referring to refugee scams as "Asianisation by stealth".

And he condemned the high number of Asian countries contributing to permanent approvals, which numbered 53,000 last year.

"Something is happening to the demography of our country.

"Who asked you whether you wanted to Asianise New Zealand by a Napier or a Nelson each year?" Mr Peters said.

More than 95 per cent of people in the business-investor category of immigration were Asian "but in many cases the business they are buying into is places in our schools for their kids".

"Do you mind if your kid has to go to another school as a result?"

Mr Prebble said Mr Peters was adopting a Le Pen style of campaigning - a reference to the ultra-rightist French politician.

"It's personal in my case," Mr Prebble, the Act leader, said at a press conference in Wellington.

"My children don't fit into Mr Peters' New Zealand. Rodney Hide's wife comes from China. His children don't fit into Mr Peters' New Zealand."

Mr Hide said his wife had been verbally abused in the streets.

"There is an underside to New Zealand that is not attractive, so when he launches those attacks I certainly take it personally and I take it personally on behalf of my son."

Mr Peters spent several weeks with Mr Hide and his wife on the controversial parliamentary tour to South America last year.

Asked if he believed Mr Peters was personally racist, Mr Hide said: "That's what so sad about Winston - he is making racist statements but he himself isn't a racist.

"He's doing that just to try and win power."

Mr Prebble also criticised Prime Minister Helen Clark for failing to rule out a coalition with Mr Peters and accused her of not sticking up for minority New Zealanders.

"Every New Zealander is entitled to expect the Prime Minister on an issue of this sort to have the moral courage to say what is right."

The issue of her signing paintings was a minor issue.

Helen Clark said the "heady mix" of crime, race and immigration that New Zealand First put together was "deeply offensive".

But she would not categorically rule out going into coalition with the party.

"I have made my preferences very clear - majority coalition with the Progressive Coalition party or a minority coalition with the Progressive Coalition party.

"I don't have a third preference.

"I have two clear preferences and they [New Zealand First] are not in them."

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