Peters coy on Jones placing

Winston Peters and Shane Jones following the Northland by election March 2015 Gettyimages

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is refusing to confirm whether former Labour Party cabinet minister Shane Jones is joining the party.

Mr Jones finishes today as the New Zealand's ambassador for Pacific Island development, and there has been speculation for months that he will contest Whangarei for New Zealand First.

Mr Peters says the party organisation handles membership and candidate selection.

"I handle the political side, the presentation of the issues and the research and things like that and I have a machine around the country. I'm not going to respond to anybody because next they will say 'Who else have you got? Have you got this person? Have you got that person?' and frankly the date of nominations has not closed for a number of seats, so I cannot say anything about that," he says.

WINSTON PETERS INTERVIEW

Follow us on &

Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com

RELATED NEWS

Education innovation rewarded Ihumatao protest heads for UN Maori Party sells access to PM