5 June 2005
MEDIA RELEASE
ATTENTION: POLITICAL REPORTERS

Attack On Peters Won’t Shift Votes To Greens

“The attack on Winston Peters by Greens leader Rod Donald was ill-judged and will not shift votes to the Greens,” said Paul Piesse, Co-leader of the Alliance party today. He was commenting on Rod Donald’s use of terms like Peters being 'a snake oil merchant', and 'the ugly face of politics' and having policies used in Hitler’s Germany and ethnic cleansing.

“To say it was no coincidence that the National Front leader had quit politics because NZ First had stolen their policies, insults people’s intelligence.”

“Rod Donald states that his attack on Peters was unusually blunt, but he says it is part of the Greens’ strategy to increase its share of the party vote,” said Paul Piesse. “If Mr Donald believes that it is acceptable to win votes by personal attacks, he is surely no better than Mr Peters.”

“The Greens difficulty is that those whose most important concerns are being poor and cold cannot identify with slogans about ‘saving the planet’,“ said Paul Piesse. “There is a large group of voters who are looking for a genuine Party of the left that argues for a living wage and public control of power companies.”

Paul Piesse said that the Alliance would redouble its efforts to reestablish a public awareness of itself as New Zealand’s left wing party in the light of recent poll results. “The Greens cannot attract back the left wing voters who left the Alliance and went to Labour and NZ First last election. Only a Party with a revitalized and clear left agenda for a fairer New Zealand can do that.”

ENDS

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