A New Zealand political leader who claims New Zealand is being "colonised" by Asians and promises to slash the numbers of new migrants may find himself in the role of kingmaker after elections due within three months. Political veteran Winston Peters heads the New Zealand First Party, which polls suggest may hold the balance of power after elections to be held by September 24 at the latest.
Despite his Maori heritage, he aims his appeal at mostly white older New Zealanders who oppose or are bewildered by globalisation, an increasingly multicultural country and the more prominent role taken by indigenous Maori in political and social life.
Immigration, and especially Asian immigration, is one of the favourite targets of the 60-year-old Peters, who first entered parliament in 1978. An influx of Asian immigrants and foreign students is giving the country - particularly the largest city Auckland - a more multicultural face and not all New Zealanders are comfortable with this.
"We have now reached the point where you can wander down Queen Street in Auckland and wonder if you are still in New Zealand or some other country," Peters told an approving elderly audience recently.
"We dont want some miscellaneous rag tag bunch that will end up with many on welfare or driving a taxi."
Peters entered Parliament in 1978 and in 1993 after falling out with the centre-right National Party - which has been either the government or dominant opposition pary for half a century - he set up the New Zealand First party, which currently holds 13 seats in the 120 seat parliament. Despite a two-year spell as Deputy Prime Minister in a coalition government in the mid-1990s, he has made his mark in opposition rather than government.
He has been the bane of Helen Clark's centre-left Labour government when asking questions in Parliament with his quick wit and predatory political instincts. His swarthy part-Maori looks, immaculate backcombed hair and sharp double-breasted suits won him the nickname Luigi in his earlier years in political life. The nickname isn't bandied around any more and Peters likes his image to be pure kiwi.
The population of four million people has until recent decades been predominantly of British background, with minorities of indigenous Maori and Pacific Islanders. Despite a small Chinese population becoming established from the gold rushes of the mid 19th century onwards, New Zealand was slower to take on a multicultural hue than countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia.
- TOUGHER IMMIGRATION POLICY ALREADY DETERRING ASIANS -An increasingly open immigration policy since the early 1990s has seen the number of Asians in New Zealand reach 270,000 in 2001, when a census was last held. The government statistician expects this to more than double to 670,000 by 2021, although other experts think this may be overstated.
The other political parties represented in Parliament reject Peters' rhetoric, recognising that immigration has helped fuel robust economic growth in recent years and fill a shortage of skilled labour. But political polls suggest he may be harder to ignore in the future, with national elections due by September 24 at the latest.
Recent polls have shown that Clark's Labour-led government and National are enjoying about 40 percent of the vote each and Peters has around 10 percent. Another four minor parties spanning the political spectrum share the remaining 10 percent.
If the polls are borne out in the election, neither main party will be able to get a majority of seats in parliament in their own right. With over half of the remaining vote, Peters would be impossible to ignore.
To some extent, Peters comments are seen as electioneering rather than a reflection of firm conviction.
"The Asian community isn't fazed about Mr Peters' latest bluster, after all they are getting used to his anti-Asian crusades which are always timed to coincide with general elections," the National Party's Shanghai-born member of parliament Pansy Wong says. "I have no doubt that if there were votes in it, then he would be still chasing his ancestral connection to some high mountain tribes in Asia."
But already there are signs that Peters' hold on the anti-immigration vote is influencing the public and government policy.
A poll this month showed 52 percent of those surveyed believed immigration laws were too lax, despite a decline of about a third in net immigration from its peak of just under 55,000 four years ago.
The government last month announced a review of immigration policy, partly aimed at appeasing anti-immigration feeling.
This month it tightened rules covering rules for immigrants wanting to enter the country under the investor category, including doubling the minimum investment to two million dollars (1.41 million US).
Since the toughening up of English language requirements in 2002, the number of Asian migrants has dropped sharply. Britain was the largest source of migrants last year, contributing 9,100 of the net gains of 33,200, while Chinese made up 2,900, Indians 2,500 and Japanese 2,100.
But whatever the short term fluctuations, the share of migrants from Asia is likely to rise in coming years, experts say. Since New Zealand's economic role as a provider of agricultural products for former colonial power Britain ended in the 1970s, it has increasingly turned to Asia.
"The centre of economic power has already shifted considerably to Asia and if we want to discuss our economic future as New Zealanders, then we might want to look to our neighbourhoods," Professor Paul Spoonley, Massey University's college of humanities and social sciences said at a recent conference on Chinese identity in New Zealand.