Sir Roger Douglas was back in Parliament today setting out his remedies to cure New Zealand by renting out hospital wards to doctors and nurses.

The Act party has taken a vow to get back to its basics. So it lined up the three 'R's - Rodney Hide, Roger and Heather Roy - to tell journalists just how it would deliver.

Leader Rodney Hide promised some policy on "what we can do to bring our kids home, rather than just political piffle".

Sir Roger Douglas delivered it, listing renting hospital wards out to doctors and nurses to do "Mrs Tamati's hip operation," greater privatisation of education, hauling back tax rates, topping up poor people's incomes through tax system and getting rid of Working for Families and slashing government spending by 10 per cent.

He launched into Michael Cullen's treasured Working for Families scheme, which he said was "the very worst type of policy."

"He wants to make people dependent. If you do it through the tax system they get it automatically. If he gives it through social welfare, he makes them dependent. He makes them line up and he believes that is how he's get votes, by making them dependent."

Sir Roger and Rodney Hide had done some calculations and estimated government policies were costing New Zealanders $100 a week in lower wages.

Sir Roger denied his were policies for the rich and predicted a few "chardonnay socialists" might resist joining them for a while after they were introduced, but would soon see the light.

"The people who benefit most from Act party policies are the disadvantaged in society - the people who miss out on health care and top quality education."

There were glimmers that the Sir Roger injection has also focussed Rodney Hide's mind somewhat, enough to prompt him to talk slightly like a politician in election year again.

Asked about Act on Campus' stunt of "selling" party pills to get Act party members signed up, he first tried a bit of fence sitting, saying he did not think party pills were much of a reason to join Act, but
"we are not the party to be going round wagging our finger and telling adults what they can and can't do with their lives. I leave that up to every other political party that wants to boss people round."

He tried to steer the focus back onto serious policy issues, then to dismiss it as "an odd thing" undertaken by the young ones. Finally he succumbed to temptation and took a thwack at Jim Anderton - the man who made the party pills illegal and then said Hide's parents in Epsom would be appalled by Act's stunt.

"What I know about the parents of Epsom is they are very concerned about this Labour government. They are very concerned about the direction this country is going. And they're not concerned about Jim Anderton at all. They'd forgotten he was in Parliament."