The many faces of Winston Peters

There will be no immediate positives from Peters' first visit to Washington. Picture / Greg Bowker

Former MP Richard Prebble often described the Parliamentary press gallery as chooks at feeding time. If that's a fair analogy, then Winston Peters is the fox in the henhouse.

With notable exceptions, journalists who accompanied the Minister of Foreign Affairs to Washington last week squawked more about themselves than the meetings.

Winston Peters arrived back in New Zealand last Sunday, 48 hours before flying to Kuala Lumpur for meetings with Asean (Association of South East Asian Nations) Dialogue Partners (including Condoleezza Rice).

Speaking to the Herald on Sunday en route to Auckland airport on Tuesday, he was keen not to overrate possible outcomes from Washington.

But it's fair to say Peters is pretty chuffed the trip went well. After 22 years of icy relations between New Zealand and the US, he returned with signs of a thaw. The meeting with Rice was described by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill as "completely successful".

Peters says: "I think it's a mark of the new appreciation that the US has for what New Zealand actually does. I've sought to remind the US that we're in the same boat. We're seeking to ensure there's peace and democracy in the world. We're in 19 different theatres in 14 different countries. That's not been appreciated by a lot of people, but it is now."

There were doubts Peters' meetings with Rice and other top-level officials like National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley would even happen.

But this week, former New Zealand ambassador to the US John Woods wrote: "It has neither been the norm nor very frequent for our Foreign Affairs Minister to meet in Washington with the US Secretary of State. It cannot have been easy for Condoleezza Rice to preserve the appointment at a time of escalating crisis in the Middle East, yet she did so."

The nuclear issue was deliberately not raised, Peters says, because Rice suggested both countries put "the problems of the past behind us".

Peters' sentiments exactly: "Can we not say to ourselves, 'look, let's respect our different views on this?' We're a sovereign nation and we're entitled to our view. We've got a whole lot of other things to work on."

It's the main reason he wanted to be Minister of Foreign Affairs. "We've had 22 years of stalemate. One third of New Zealanders wasn't born when this happened. I thought we could change the circumstance if we focused on the fact the world has changed... We have got to, as western nations and responsible democracies, cooperate whenever and however we can."

Rice was not quite what Peters expected. "Your only perception of somebody is what you see in the media and she was a far warmer personality than I thought she would be."

Rice began the meeting by apologising "profusely" for the delay. A good start to any meeting with Peters, who highly values good manners.

"I said, 'not at all'," says Peters, describing how the meeting progressed. "'Look, we are very grateful to have this brief time with you, given what's going on in the world and your role in it, so I won't waste your time. I want to tell you what I'm here for, and discuss the things that are important to us'."

Peters won't give specific details, "I'm not going to walk out of a commitment to a strengthened relationship then unilaterally announce what that means."

But according to Assistant Secretary Hill, it could mean approval to overturn the US ban on military training and exercises with New Zealand, something of considerable significance to the New Zealand Defence Force.

So how do others rate the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who's also the leader of the New Zealand First Party, can't discuss trade, and is not in the Labour Government?

The Prime Minister, who earlier this year invested considerable time ringing Peters to chat and establish a strong rapport, points out that Labour has "long recognised that foreign affairs and trade are two separate roles". Previous to Winston Peters' appointment, Helen Clark says, Phil Goff held the portfolio while Jim Sutton handled trade. (Actually, Goff was foreign affairs and trade; Sutton was trade negotiations.)

But Clark, who is understood to have gone ballistic over the Peters-media fallout, says the real story in Washington got lost in the coverage. She says the successful meetings Peters had with Senator John McCain, Rice and other senior figures will "impact on ordinary New Zealanders" in that "our two countries are very good friends, as we have been for many years, and that relationship will continue to develop".

Dr Margaret Clark, Professor of Political Science at Victoria University, who has edited six books on New Zealand political leaders, is impressed by his performance thus far in foreign affairs, and says it's of no consequence that he's not in the Government.

"In America no cabinet minister is in Parliament, so these trivial differences are of no interest over there. To them he's the New Zealand Minister for Foreign Affairs."

Clark says Peters has been wise to stress two themes from the start. "They are the right themes - we are an Asian Pacific nation meeting our responsibilities, and the old feud with America is boring and not in our interests - that's blindingly obvious."

She believes Peters has natural attributes which are "very important" in Washington: "He's smart, educated, articulate, he dresses beautifully and he looks good."

She later phones back to add that New Zealanders underrate the fact Mr Peters is Maori. "We're very concerned to present our bi-cultural/multi-culturalism, and the face of our Minister is just that. It is a great face to present to the world and it will be noted and approved of, just as the face of Condoleezza Rice is noted and approved of."

Political scientist Dr Jon Johansson, who teaches modern American politics at Victoria, credits two MPs for "seriously altering the trajectory" of New Zealand foreign policy, which, he says, "was stuck in one place".

The first is Winston Peters, who "hit on a very clever strategy by focusing on New Zealand's efforts in the Pacific. The dynamic has changed because [previously] the focus was all on anti-nuclear/free trade.

"Winston Peters showed that New Zealand does more than its share in our own patch, and that was an invitation for the US to also move away from the stagnation of the previous rhetoric."

Murray McCully, National's Foreign Affairs spokesman who says Peters is "not up to the foreign affairs role", will be choking when he reads this. But McCully is the other recipient of Johansson's praise. "McCully has helped National's position by saying the nuclear-free policy stays. But more than that, he's removed the partisanship and this 'NZ Inc' approach gives further weight to New Zealand's progressive relationship with the US."

Gratuitous partisanship, explains Johansson, is not in New Zealand's interest. It creates uncertainty in the US - a change of NZ government can equal a reversal of position.

It's impossible to discuss the Minister of Foreign Affairs without reference to his ongoing battles with media. The "misunderstanding" in Washington, as the Prime Minister calls it, occurred when journalists were permitted to ask "a couple" of questions during a photo session with Senator McCain. While McCain was answering the fifth or sixth question, Peters, who could see the 30-minute meeting ticking away, called a halt saying, "we wouldn't want to go back on our word, would we gentlemen?"

From that point, relations between the Minister and the press contingent slid to insults and accusations that Peters had upset one of New Zealand's closest allies in Washington.

But Johansson believes our political journalists "can't separate the person from the office. In the States they respect the office. In New Zealand the disrespect reporters like Soper [NewstalkZB, Prime News] and Espiner [TVNZ] have for Winston Peters cascades into disrespect for the office."

Johansson, who has also recently returned from Washington, is irked that reporters described Senator McCain as a possible future President of the United States. "I doubt they know enough about the Republican nomination process - not one of them has explained how McCain will overcome the huge problem of winning the Republican nomination, let alone securing the Presidency. But it was convenient they frame Peters' meeting in that context."

There will be no immediate positives from the Foreign Affairs Ministers' first visit to Washington. Trade Minister Goff warns New Zealand will have to wait in line for a free-trade agreement. He believes our nuclear-free policy remains "a stumbling block" to joint military exercises.

But can we sleep safer in our beds? Will our allies look more favourably towards coming to our aid if our national security is threatened?

Winston Peters: "I'd like to say yes, but I don't want to underestimate some of the problems... they will take some real commitment to solve."

But he's enjoying his job and is confident his future in the portfolio is assured. He says there's a lot to be enthused about. "We went through a period of not belonging, and now we've found a future in becoming a responsible reliable influence in the Pacific and Asia."