is a
Free Market Liberal Party in the
New Zealand Parliament . It supports individual freedom, personal responsibility, low taxation, and smaller government. The party describes itself as
Classical Liberal (referring to the European, rather than American, usage of the word). Some members have described the party as "
Libertarian ", although this is disputed by the smaller
Libertarianz party.
Supporters claim that ACT is one of the more noticeable opposition parties, known for its frequent and vociferous criticism of the government. Critics of the party sometimes claim that ACT is more interested in scoring political points and gaining media exposure than in participating in constructive dialogue. Many of its MPs and rank-and-file members are also perceived to have more in common with
Neo-conservatism than
Classical Liberalism .
Peron, "The New Anti-PC Problem" Supporters, however, say that ACT "keeps the government honest", and ensures accountability.
ACT's philosophy is based on individual freedom and personal responsibility. Perhaps properly described as "classical liberal", ACT's philosophy has also been described as "laissez faire", "neo-liberal", "libertarian", or "conservative". ACT states its principles and policy objectives as:
:Principles
- That individuals are the rightful owners of their own lives and therefore have inherent freedoms and responsibilities
- That the proper purpose of government is to protect such freedoms and not to assume such responsibilities.
:Policy Objectives
- A prosperous, well-educated, healthy, and open society in which individuals are free to achieve their full potential
- A growing, dynamic, and open economy, in which individual choice is paramount
- Social policy that promotes and rewards hard work, enterprise, thrift, and personal responsibility
- A standard of living, and quality of life, that is the envy of the world.
ACT New Zealand currently focuses on two main policy areas -
Taxation and
Crime . On the subject of taxes, ACT says that tax rates should be lower, and also supports something approaching a
Flat Tax , in which tax rates would not be graduated based on wealth or income. On the subject of crime, ACT advocates harsher penalties. ACT is also known for its criticism of alleged government waste and inefficiency.
ACT grew out of the , although the two are separate organizations. The association was founded in
1993 by
Roger Douglas and
Derek Quigley , both former cabinet ministers. The organization was intended to be a lobby group, promoting the economic policies that Douglas and Quigley stood for (sometimes known as "
Rogernomics ").
The following year, with the new
MMP electoral system making it easier for smaller parties to gain seats, was established as a separate political party based on the association's views. Douglas selected longtime Labour Party activist Brian Nicolle to help him establish the party.
The Association of Consumers and Taxpayers still exists on paper although there is little substance to it. The Association is technically a lobby group promoting free market economics. It holds its annual general meetings during the annual general meetings of ACT New Zealand and the members of the Board of Trustees also serve as board members of the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers.
Initially, the party was led by Douglas, but in March of
1996 , he stepped down and was replaced by
Richard Prebble .
In the 1996 election, ACT gained eight seats in Parliament--one electorate seat and seven list seats. Prebble was elected in Wellington Central; some believe that he won after
Prime Minister Jim Bolger appeared to endorse Prebble over his own
National Party 's candidate. ACT had by this time adopted the role of a natural coalition partner with National (a significant departure from Douglas and Prebble's origins in
Labour ), and would have been assured representation in Parliament if Prebble won. However, some observers pointed out that Prebble had a substantial lead well before the election and would have won even without Bolger's endorsement. It ended up being a moot point, as ACT won 6.1 percent of the vote, well over the MMP threshold. It remained outside the National-
New Zealand First coalition government, although sometimes gave it support.
In the election of 1999, ACT increased its strength in parliament by one seat, giving it a total of nine, although Prebble lost his Wellington Central electorate seat.
In the 2002 election, ACT's strength in parliament remained unchanged, prompting speculation about Prebble's leadership. However there were no obvious challenges, and Prebble remained in control until he decided to resign in 2004.
In 2003, the party was embarrassed by allegations against
Donna Awatere Huata , one of its MPs. It was claimed that Awatere Huata had diverted funds from a children's educational program for her own personal use, and an official investigation was launched. This investigation eventually led to Awatere Huata's arrest for fraud. As ACT had a reputation for vociferously attacking any perceived dishonesty by members of other parties, the charges against Awatere Huata were quite embarrassing. Awatere Huata refused to resign from Parliament, but was expelled from the ACT
Caucus . That November, she was removed from the party itself, becoming an independent. ACT tried to remove her from Parliament by invoking the
Electoral Integrity Act , as her departure from the party left ACT with fewer seats than the public had chosen to give it at the last election. In November 2004, Awatere Huata was finally removed from Parliament after her last court challenge failed, and the next person on the ACT list,
Kenneth Wang , was appointed in her place.
Towards the end of 2003, there was discussion about a possible pact between ACT and the larger National Party. Although ACT had long portrayed itself as a natural coalition partner for National, there has never been a formal agreement between the two. Some right-wing politicians believe that an agreement is essential to the establishment of a new right-wing government, and point to the pre-election agreement between Labour and
The Alliance in 1999. As yet, however, there has been no deal.
On
27 April 2004 , Richard Prebble announced his retirement from politics. After an "indicative" ballot of the party's members,
Rodney Hide was chosen as Prebble's successor. The other candidates were
Ken Shirley (the party's deputy leader),
Stephen Franks , and
Muriel Newman . The leadership race saw considerable tension between two factions of the party - Rodney Hide, one of the two main contenders, was regarded as representing a "populist", high-profile approach, while his main rival, Stephen Franks, was seen as more ideologically grounded. ACT's founder, Roger Douglas, saw Hide's alleged "grandstanding" as detracting from the group's core message, and had spoken out in favour of Franks and Shirley. In the end, however, Hide was successful, and was announced as the party's new leader on
13 June 2004 .
In the lead-up to the ), especially as polls conducted in the Epsom seat had incorrectly showed Hide's support being far below National's candidate. It was repeatedly put to the National Party that they could ensure the survival of ACT in Parliament as a potential coalition partner by supporting Hide in Epsom. While not emphatically ruling out the possibility, National leader
Don Brash stuck to the line that National "had no plans to do a deal". The Labour Party, however, saw the possibility of National supporters voting for Hide and encouraged their own supporters to vote for the National candidate in order to shut ACT out of parliament.
Hide won the seat by a moderate margin--only the second time that ACT had won an electorate seat. Nationwide, ACT was severely mauled along with the other parties. It won only 1.5% of vote, winning only one additional list seat, that of
Heather Roy . Roy will likely become the party's new deputy leader, as the party's support had dropped enough to keep former deputy
Muriel Newman from returning to Parliament.
Since the election ACT has set about the mammoth task of restoring the party, in terms of membership and finances. While this has been reasonably successful, the party is a long way off the levels of support it enjoyed in the mid nineties. The ACT Annual Conference was held in Wellington over the weekend of March 24-26. An almost entirely new Board was elected, reflecting the need for a change of direction within the party, and the emergence of a strong youth presence. Hamilton business-owner
Garry Mallett was elected President, defeating Hawkes Bay farmer and former ACT Vice-President
John Ormond . Christchurch's
Trevor Loudon replaced Ormond as Vice-President, defeating Auckland's Barry Parkin. The Conference was most notable for the attendance of
Maori Party Co-leader
Tariana Turia . While the Maori Party and ACT do oppose each other in several areas, policies on welfare, tax and education are very similar. Turia received a standing ovation on completion of her speech by the predominantly
Pakeha and asian crowd. Her presence is seen by many as a move by the ACT Party's Rodney Hide to broker a coalition of opposition parties to contest the 2008 election against the Labour minority Government.
