Addressing about 150 people at the Invercargill Workingmen’s Club yesterday, Mr Peters said the party opposed any idea of closing the smelter.
NZ First would commit to a 20-year agreement with Tiwai Point, with a 10-year review, for a fair electricity cost based on the cost of supply, he said.
"Thousands of workers here are responsible for producing the highest quality and valued aluminium in the world.
"So why is this industry, so critical to Southland and New Zealand, threatened with closure?
"Over the years, the smelter has been subject of straight-out political deceit which politicians have messaged to the Wellington media.
"That lie is that the smelter’s electricity has been subsidised."
If in government, NZ First would ensure New Zealand procurement applied to the country’s aluminium rather than offshore imports.
The smelter was once one of three large critical industries in New Zealand, alongside New Zealand Steel at Glenbrook and the now closed Marsden Point Refinery, he said.
He criticised the Labour government for allowing the refinery to close, stating that decision alone should see Labour "sacked from government at this election".
"Today if our fuel supply is disrupted, we can’t even supply essential industries like hospitals, ambulances, fire services and police to carry out their critical work until full fuel supply is restored.
"We have been put in a most precarious position, without warning."
Regarding Southland’s contributions to the nation’s economy, Mr Peters announced NZ First would exempt aquaculture from the Coastal Policy Statement 2010 to ensure the salmon farm was brought to Stewart Island.
"[Aquaculture] should be one of our thriving industries, and not the subject of Wellington decision-making based on planning laws which are simply an obstruction to development."
Mr Peters emphasised Southland’s contribution to the national economy.
"Invercargill is a city that owes its existence to an amazing wealth-creating export province ... Southland is the biggest export-per-person province in New Zealand, which means that the many businesses and workers here are doing more than any other province to prop up our economy."
Throughout the meeting, Mr Peters also spoke on the issues of housing, education, law and order, and the opposition to co-governance.
"Our very democracy is at risk from a rising tide of racism and separatism that has given birth to secret social engineering that you were never warned about and most certainly never agreed to."
He railed against journalists and national media, referring to the $55million Public Interest Journalism Fund as "a bribe".
"A politician gives a speech, and they don’t bother reporting what he’s saying — no, what they think he said.
"And that’s a form of communism, or fascism, and they welcome it in this country and they call it modern journalism."
