NZ First deems leaked sales list ‘ old news’
Says Labour sees problem after calling him racist on same issue
NZ First leader Winston Peters has revealed he had the same “insider” information controversially used by the Labour Party to target foreign property buyers.
But Mr Peters said his party didn’t use it because it was old news and an issue NZ First had been making public for some time.
“It looks and sounds like exactly what we had. I had already made countless speeches about it. I’ve said it,” said Mr Peters. “I’ve got the material. It’s the same as the B& T [ Barfoot & Thompson] booklets they’ve got. I know it’s from an insider.”
Labour raised the issue of foreign land ownership last weekend with statistics showing 39.5 per cent of people on a leaked sales list from a real estate company had ethnic Chinese names. In contrast, just 9 per cent of the population are Chinese New Zealanders. The move drew accusations of racism and claims Labour’s analysis of statistics wasn’t robust.
Mr Peters said Labour had previously “accused
He said waiting for data to accumulate through Government plans to collect buyers’ tax details was a waste of time because it was a plan which “you can drive a horse and cart through”.
Mr Peters said the foreign ownership issue and Labour’s new tax policy — t wo days after he announced NZ First’s new position — was an attempt on his party’s ground.
“Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery but who’s got the record?”
He said any play for NZ First votes “won’t succeed”.
Labour leader Andrew Little did not respond to requests for an interview but yesterday refused to apologise over the issue after criticism from a former party candidate and office holder, Shane Te Pou.
Mr Te Pou said he would go to the Privacy Commission and Human Rights Commission because Labour’s data included the purchase of his family home — bought under the name of his wife, Annie Du, who is of Chinese ethnicity.
He said the information had been on the Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Carnival calendar, was a huge success on the final day of the carnival, Cadbury New Zealand sales director James Kane said.
“This is the third- last of 62 events for the whole week, so everything has gone really well. We’re happy to be able to raise money for these three fantastic charities,” Mr Kane said.
The charities supported in this year’s races were the Make a Wish Foundation, Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Parent Centre New Zealand Inc. released in a way that was “certainly unlawful”.
“The use of it to describe Maori New Zealanders as Chinese, ‘ foreign money’, and the cause of a housing problem is certainly unfair.”
He said Labour was guilty of “racial profiling”. The i ssue of foreign ownership was important and needed to be discussed — but Labour had gone about it in the wrong way. The decision to isolate and highlight Chinese people went against Labour’s core principles.
“They got a lot of Chinesesounding names and basically came up with an equation that I think is not robust but more importantly amounted to racial profiling.”
Mr Te Pou said he believed Mr Little and Mr Twyford were “decent human beings”.
“What they have done in this case is just wrong.”
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