TAURANGA, New Zealand — March 22, 2026 — New Zealand First leader Winston Peters defended his party’s proposal to break up the major electricity gentailers and hailed a turnout of more than 1,000 people at his State of the Nation speech here on Sunday, as he and newly recruited candidate Alfred Ngaro faced questions from reporters.

Speaking outside the Atrium Conference Centre in Tauranga after delivering a wide-ranging address focused on energy prices, economic resilience and national security, Mr. Peters described the strong attendance as evidence of public appetite for traditional public meetings and a clear signal of dissatisfaction with the current political landscape.

“It’s a great start,” he said. “It signals that there’s a huge demand from the public for public meetings the old-fashioned way … We still believe in it and we’re delighted.”

The centrepiece of the speech was New Zealand First’s pledge to split the gentailers — companies that both generate and retail electricity — so they can “no longer control both the power and the price.” Mr. Peters argued the current structure had allowed companies to drive up costs for households and businesses, and said the party would draw on past successful models of industry separation, including the operational split of Telecom under the Clark government.

When pressed on how the policy would deliver lower power prices and whether long-term fixed-price contracts could be guaranteed, Mr. Peters replied that the party would “put your best experience together of the past when it used to work and you put it back together again.” He cited the party’s success in bringing KiwiRail and ferry projects in under budget as proof that competent management could deliver results, and contrasted it with cost overruns on projects such as Transmission Gully.

Mr. Peters and deputy leader Shane Jones, who has long advocated breaking up the gentailers, made clear the policy would form a key plank of the party’s 2026 election campaign. They rejected suggestions that the gentailers would mount an insurmountable fight, with Mr. Ngaro adding that the companies “know that the game is up” and that ultimate power rested with voters, not corporate interests.

The event also served as the formal introduction of former National Party cabinet minister Alfred Ngaro as a New Zealand First candidate. Mr. Ngaro, who left National, founded the NewZeal Party and contested the 2023 election before aligning with New Zealand First, told reporters his core values — social conservatism, patriotism and support for families — had not changed.

He acknowledged that some audience members appeared unfamiliar with him, saying it was precisely the purpose of public meetings to introduce himself to voters. Mr. Ngaro emphasised his desire to serve rather than be served and expressed hope of contributing to policy areas such as family support, particularly programmes aimed at fathers.

Mr. Peters welcomed Mr. Ngaro’s recruitment, describing him as a candidate with “brains” and “experience” and indicating more high-profile additions were expected. When asked about the message sent by attracting former ministers and MPs from other parties, Mr. Peters said it showed “a real change in the air.”

The pair faced repeated questions about coalition dynamics, potential asset sales under a future National-led government, and New Zealand First’s willingness to walk away from any arrangement that did not align with its priorities. Mr. Peters grew visibly frustrated with some lines of questioning, at one point declaring the media session over after criticising what he saw as repetitive or unfair probes into past coalitions and asset sales.

On international matters, Mr. Peters offered a cautious assessment of the situation in the Middle East, urging New Zealanders to “be cool, not lose their heads” and saying experience would matter in navigating an increasingly difficult global environment. He reiterated the need for a longer-term “future fund” to improve the country’s fiscal resilience.

The State of the Nation address marks an early but energetic launch to New Zealand First’s 2026 campaign. With the party positioning itself as the champion of affordable energy, economic nationalism and socially conservative values, Mr. Peters made clear that the coming election would be fought on whether New Zealanders wanted to restore what he called the country’s former “cutting edge advantage” in cheap, reliable power and national self-reliance.

A detailed policy paper on the gentailer reforms is expected to be released in coming weeks.