24/12/2025
Open Letter addressed to Winston Peters
Dear Mr Peters,
My name is Ben Chissell. You may or may not know my name, but I am one of the organisers of the One Ocean Protest. I am also the founder of the NZ Fishing Community, which has over 110,000 Kiwi members.
Back in the early ’80s, you ran a modest law firm in Howick. My grandfather, Gary Wardell, was a customer of yours for some very minor work, but he recalled you fondly. I currently still live in Howick. Unfortunately, three years ago he passed away. He was very much a father figure to me, and the day before he passed he handed me his gold necklace that has an emblem of an old ship’s helm on it. He passed it to me and said, “You are the captain of the family now.” Seeing as all three of his children have passed away—my mother, her identical twin, and recently my other aunt Debbie—I took this on with the utmost honour and still wear it daily.
With this necklace, I look to my family as the captain of this ship and think of what I can do for them to ensure their future is bright and that they can enjoy what we can at the moment. This brings me to my real point, which I am sure you knew was coming.
As you are aware, there has been significant outrage towards Mr Jones and his fishing industry ties, as well as his blatant disregard for the NZ public when it comes to having fair input. We held a significant protest that was on every news channel and in every paper in the country. It has even raised international attention, with the IGFA writing open letters to the minister about his awful proposal regarding the Striped Marlin.
The way Jones is now treating these people, who had some fair points and 95% of whom are right-wing voters, has got people even more offside. The insults, attacks, lies, misinformation, and attempted dilution of what people are asking have actually been more powerful than if we had arranged another protest. The hatred for this man is growing, and with that, people are now looking to his employer—and his boss—Mr Winston Peters. Who is doing nothing about it.
To put it in context: If a staff member at a local hunting shop was abusive to customers, belittled them, insulted them, lied to them, and conducted themselves in this manner for a sustained period of time without consequence, people would rightly think, “Who is running this shop?” and “Why are they not doing anything about this guy?” They would then boycott this store, tell others how horrible it is, and vote with their wallets.
You are now the store and the owner. You have an AWOL staff member who is actively abusing your voter base. I can show you hundreds of comments just from this morning that show the number of people who used to vote NZ First but now won’t. I am one of them. I figured, surely, you would not be silly enough to allow Mr Jones into the Fisheries role, given his background. But it happened, and I regret it.
I am in sales, and there is a key message I always refer back to: For every 10 things you do well, one person will tell one more person. For every one wrong thing you do, 10 people will tell 10 people.
All this good work you are doing in other areas doesn’t matter when you do what is being done with fisheries and how the public is being treated. Fishing is the biggest sport in NZ. NZ has the largest boat ownership per capita in the world. What Mr Jones is forgetting is that the people protesting are business owners, high earners, right-wingers. These people earn good money and spend their whole week working themselves to the bone so that they can go fishing at the weekend. That is rapidly eroding. If you take a man’s hobbies away, what does he have? You are taking away many people’s “WHY”—certainly mine.
As the boss of NZ First, it is time you actioned this yourself. I know how much you hate bad press, and I know you have already had a discussion with Mr Jones about this, but it is not enough. He is mocking your voter base and ruining an organisation you built from the ground up nearly 30 years ago. You are nearly retired, what is your legacy going to be? A big sign saying NO, or the man who helped save fisheries for the NZ Public.
One thing Mr Jones nearly had right: he claimed these people won’t vote Greens or Labour. He was right. But they will vote ACT and National instead. And 1.08% is not much of a buffer. I have reached out to Mr Jones with no response. I have also spoken with Tama Potaka, Rachel Boyack, Cameron Luxton, and a few others who are still waiting for me to get back to them and other meetings scheduled for the new year. All these other people have been extremely open and easy to speak with.
One Ocean Project is not going anywhere. That protest was not a one-off. We are just starting to ramp up. And please don’t think the red herring of the Striped Marlin will make the other issues go away.
This is no longer a Mr Jones issue. This is now squarely a NZ First issue.
I would welcome a discussion with you at any point. My details are below.
Regards
Ben Chissell
*****
The above was sent to Winston Peters on the 15th December. After attempts to reach Mr Jones had failed. He has told mutual contacts that he wants to talk. But folds when the opportunity it’s arises.
Who wants to protest up Northland?
(Sorry for the soppy stuff at the start)
