This election the polls say the people of Tauranga want a change in representation. It's not just that you are tired of Mr Peters, it's the company he keeps. Last election it was the NZ First Party that introduced us to $89.00 underwear and to MPs who swap parties. NZ First MPs are responsible for the reputation that Parliament has received.

Mr Peters says that it was he who was betrayed, yet we the voters had never met Tuku Morgan, the Rev Ann Batten or Neil Kirton. Neil Kirton, who was fired by Mr Peters, says that he was just being loyal to NZ First's manifesto - a claim that has never been denied.

It is now clear that this year's NZ First list is no better than last election.

ACT's polling shows NZ First won't make the 5 per cent threshold. The latest polls not only show Mr Peters trailing Katherine O'Regan, but that 66 per cent of Tauranga voters do not want to be represented by Mr Peters.

The whole country commends your for your decision. Katherine O'Regan is universally respected in Parliament as a hard working, thoughtful MP.

I have come to Tauranga for a different purpose. A vote for NZ First is now a wasted vote. I have come to ask NZ First voters to vote for ACT New Zealand.

Winston Peters is correct when he says that his voters are not happy with the tweedledum and tweedledee programmes of the two major parties.

NZ First voters do not like the socialism of the Alliance. They realise that the Green Party has been taken over by the extreme left. It's really the party of Sue Bradford and her socialist "rent a mob" unemployed workers movement.

So how can you cast a positive vote?

The ACT Party has put to the country a programme of positive change. ACT has surveyed New Zealand First voters and over 80 per cent of NZ First voters agree or strongly agree with ACT's proposals for positive change.

NZ First voters agree that it is time we resolved the Waitangi grievance claims and put the issue behind us. Mr Peters used to promote action on Waitangi claims but in office he did nothing. ACT proposes to have a timetable, a cut off date and for all settlements to be fair, full and final. NZ First voters agree that the welfare system has moved away from its original purpose, of being a safety net, to being a hammock and a way of life. NZ First voters want welfare to give hand up as ACT proposes.

NZ First voters have noticed that from the moment ACT MPs arrived in Parliament we have called for a tougher legal system. It was ACT MPs who pointed out we have a revolving door bail system. It's been ACT MPs who pointed out that National and Labour MPs passed a law automatically reducing, by a third, nearly all prison sentences and that many violent criminals were getting out of jail after doing just one third of their sentence.

Just this week the Corrections Department has had to confirm that 80 per cent of early released prisoners reconvicted within two years. Early released prisoners are a politician-created crime wave. In Australia, where they have much tougher sentences and no automatic early release like New Zealand, just 37 per cent of prisoners are reconvicted.

I have a Truth in Sentencing Bill in front of Parliament. Labour, the Alliance and the Greens have promised that they will not pass the law. Labour says we cannot afford to keep these violent men in jail. ACT says we cannot afford to let them out. For just that reason - Truth in Sentencing - NZ First voters should vote ACT.

Many NZ First voters have been, and are in, small business. ACT's call for less red tape and bureaucracy, I know, has appeal.

For those who are retired, I believe ACT's call for a bi-partisan policy on superannuation, that protects the position of those who have retired, has appeal.

The vitriolic and personal attacks on ACT by Mr Peters is because he knows that ACT's programme does appeal to his voters. ACT actually does in Parliament what Mr Peters says he will do.

It's been ACT, not NZ First that has kept them honest. It's been ACT that has supported the Government when it's right and opposed them when they are wrong, not New Zealand First. It's been ACT that has the well thought out policies to resolve the real issues. This election NZ First has no new ideas.

The ACT Party has been getting support from across the political spectrum. In Wellington Central, Alliance voters angry that their candidate was pulled out - are voting for me.

ACT has pulled votes off Labour - Labour voters who are concerned about Labour's proposals to abolish the Employment Contracts Act and re-nationalise ACC.

ACT's support has doubled. ACT is the vote for positive change.

ends

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>