Winston Peters used his Rotorua speech to call for 'economic nationalism.'

Donald Trump gets it. So do the Brexit voters, the Chinese too.

Economic policies based on 'globalism' are dead - and here in New Zealand Winston Peters is ready to read the last rites.

Speaking to the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce on Friday, the New Zealand First leader said they would only consider forming a coalition Government with parties that backed his call for "economic nationalism".

"We are not going to go with any party that wants to run the economy the way it has been now," he said.

"A whole lot of people around the world have had a gutsful of globalism. The Chinese don't believe in globalism, they never have."

Peters said the sale of New Zealand assets to Chinese interests was hollowing out the New Zealand economy, and predicted big shocks in the future.

"In five years your mills will run out of timber because the Chinese will out bid them."

He said the country faces similar problems in its meat export and infant formula sectors too.

He also used the speech to hammer home messages on regional neglect, positioning New Zealand First as the one party in Parliament that cared about infrastructure problems in the regions.

"Rotorua, like Gisborne and the Far North, is a seriously neglected region."

He said GST on tourist cash generated $1.5billion, "and you in Rotorua are getting stuff all back".

Government plans for a $5.5m tourism infrastructure spend also got short shrift - "that works out as seven toilets".

He also issued a direct challenge to the Chamber audience.

"Instead of getting angry you're getting ripped off, you're smiling," he said.

Peters also signalled an election focus on law and order, reading off a number of statistics from Police dispatch.

He said he'd seen police dispatch figures that showed on January 17, at 11.45pm, Rotorua had just two police officers on duty, and that nationally since 2008 there had been 12,096 burglaries with just 487 arrests.

"A 97 per cent failure rate. The chances of getting caught are just about nil," he said.

Peters also slammed National's announcement of an additional 880 new police officers.

"Why would you need to do that if crime was falling," he said.