In one of the quietest meetings he has attended at the university, Mr Peters also proved he remains a master campaigner.
He hugged the Debt Monster, told Alliance Dunedin North candidate Victor Billot there was no hope his party could deliver on any policies, accused a woman of being a National Party mole, claimed he would be vindicated when the three investigations into donations to NZ First or himself ended and finished off with a meal of fish and chips in the university cafeteria.
It was vintage Peters, but nothing like the fiery meetings in the past, during which he has walked off the stage after persistent questioning by a heckler and been booed off the university lawn after attacking the university's management.
Parliament's privileges committee is set to deliver its verdict on Tuesday on whether Mr Peters should have declared a $100,000 donation from expatriate billionaire Owen Glenn.
If he was worried by the outcome of that report, he did nothing to show it yesterday in front of more than 200 students.
And in a twist of a tactic adopted by former Labour prime minister Mike Moore, Mr Peters urged the students to vote for NZ First because there was only one person who could look after "grandma and granddad" and that man was Winston Peters.
"You are all too busy to look after them. All of their waking hours the grandparents think of you," he told the students.
"Stop for a moment and think of them. If you back Winston Peters and NZ First we will look after grandma and granddad. Rodney [Hide] won't."
Even if the students woke up on election day with a massive hangover, they should go and vote for NZ First on their party vote, he said.
Mr Peters answered questions on emissions trading, whether the currency should be floated, tax cuts, the Reserve Bank, polling, credit card interest and whether he supported the Warriors or Roosters (Warriors).
NZ First retained its policy of a universal student allowance that would cost $780 million.
Footnote: In 1990, Mr Moore urged Dunedin superannuitants to phone their grandchildren and urge them to vote Labour.
