New Zealand First’s Northland candidate, Shane Jones, says he’s happy to be seen as a nationalist rather than a Māori nationalist.
Launching his campaign, party leader Winston Peters said Mr Jones was a nationalist who understands the need to grow provincial wealth and employment.
Mr Jones says when he looks at the challenges facing the country – including climate change, geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China and New Zealand’s place in the Pacific – the efforts by iwi and hapū to carve out more space in their relationships with government seem too inward looking.
“I see no future for New Zealand unless the top echelon, whether it’s Māori, Pakeha, irrespective of the segment whether it’s environment, cultural, economic, political, we’ve got to be focusing our energy on the threats that are coming towards the entirety of New Zealand, not just the drama between iwi Māori and the crown,” he says.
Mr Jones says his aim for the campaign is to get to every nook and cranny in the north.
