ACT

ACT is a likely coalition partner if National win the election this year. The Party has a rocky road ahead. They haven't polled above the 1% threshhold for most of this term.

Known for exposing extravagant ministerial salaries and expenses and bringing down corrupt ministers (he laid the complaint with police about Winstone Peters), Party leader Rodney Hide has known the way to ensure survival was to lobby in his savy Epsom electorate on the need for Act to retain their seats in order for National to be successful.

Hide has known that he needed to manufacture himself as something more than just the rabel rouser and so over the last couple of years we have seen him as the dancing star, harbour swimmer and diet king.

The Act pledge card consists of 20 key policies. The three main areas include:

• The economy - to get Government spending under control and lower and flatten taxes through a Taxpayer Rights Bill. Not to cut spending but to hold spending to the rate of inflation and population growth.


• Zero tolerance to crime - three strikes and you're out.


• Dump the emissions trading scheme. This will wreck the economy with no benefit for New Zealand or the world. Act will pull out of Kyoto. ACT will remove the thermal energy ban, cancel the proposed tax on forestry cutting and conversions, dump the arbitrary ad hoc targets for renewables, and can the wasteful 'energy efficiency' subsidies.

The Act Party was formed by Roger Douglas. He split from the Labour Government and set up Act to prevent Labour from regaining power in1996. They were successful and took eight seats in that election.

As Minister of Finance with the Labour Party since they took power in 1984, Roger Douglas was responsible for the most far reaching changes the NZ economy had seen since the social welfare system was set up in the 1930s. "Rogernomics" altered the structure of both public and private sectors.

Now Roger Douglas has re-joined the Party to re-inject some much needed populist vote as number 3 on the list.