Peters launches Tauranga campaign

Winston Peters launched his Tauranga election campaign today with radical proposals to drive down interest rates by intervening in the banking system. The New Zealand First leader needs to win Tauranga so his party is assured of having MPs in Parliament if it doesn't reach the 5 percent threshold for the party vote. He lost it to National's Bob Clarkson in 2005 and polls show he is trailing the party's new candidate, Simon Bridges. In a speech delivered from the back of a truck in the centre of Tauranga, Mr Peters said there was no reason for interest rates to be twice the rate of inflation, and credit card rates more than six times the inflation rate. "It is imported foreign financial garbage masquerading as so-called market forces," he said. "New Zealand First is going to use the state's credit and loan facilities to drive... [read full story]