MANAWATU STANDARD: The feeling might not be mutual, but Winston Peters is refusing to rule out working with the National Party after next month's election.
While National leader John Key has declared Mr Peters won't be part of a government led by him, Mr Peters suggested yesterday that might not be the final word.
"Mr Key is notorious for changing his mind every second day," Mr Peters said in Palmerston North.
The NZ First leader said Mr Key only discounted him from post-election negotiations because he was persuaded by National MP Murray McCully, who wants to be Foreign Affairs Minister in Mr Peters' place.
"We rule nothing out, and nothing in," he said.
Campaigning in Palmerston North's Downtown shopping mall, where Billy Joel's hit Honesty played as background music, Mr Peters said people regarded the donations saga surrounding his party as a sideshow.
He stood aside from his ministerial portfolios, including Foreign Affairs, while the Serious Fraud Office investigated before clearing him of fraud.
Mr Peters said his party now had to make up for lost time, but campaigning was "always exciting".
People were more and more concerned about the state of the world economy, mortgage costs and their jobs, he said.
A high immigration policy was flawed, particularly in troubled times, because there was "not enough work for our people", Mr Peters said. Shoppers were eager to shake his hand yesterday.
International students Abdullah Alabri and Muna Aldarwish said Mr Peters was "nice".
"Some call him racist, but I didn't think so when I met him," Mr Alabri said.
Mr Peters said rewriting the Reserve Bank Act would be a bottom line for NZ First in negotiations after the election.
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