Political review: Floundering despite solo act

By FRANCESCA MOLD

Rodney Hide is as thick-skinned as the miniature rhinos on a shelf in his Parliamentary office.

He won the nickname "Rhino" shortly after entering Parliament in 1996, when he broke the unwritten rule of collegiality and attacked the perks that all politicians enjoy.

Since then, friends have given him 12 imitation rhinos as his inspiration.

Hide's perk-busting campaign scored him a high profile that he has cultivated ever since.

Attacks on Inland Revenue, his slow torture of New Zealand Post and Kiwibank with a truckload of leaked documents, mini-scandals including Bathgate-gate and the discovery that a High Court judge had been surfing porn sites have made him famous.

His energy and enthusiasm for lifting the lid on mucky issues has resulted in his reputation as a one-man Opposition.

But while Rodney Hide is riding high, the Act party is facing the same threat as his Rhinos - that of becoming an endangered species.

Act is wallowing in the polls and flirting with political obscurity if opinion surveys over the past 12 months, which have it drawing 3-4 per cent support, are to be trusted.

The party performs well in the House. Some of the MPs are witty and strong orators; others are dogged in their pursuit of ministers.

But this does not translate into votes. Most New Zealanders wouldn't have a clue what is said in Parliament each day, except for the few soundbites on television news. This makes it hard for Act to cultivate the image it wants - that it has strong policies with broad appeal. An example is its battle to abolish name suppression and toughen up jail terms. Act wants to shrug off the tag of a rich man's party with unpalatable economic policies and appeal more to the poor and women.

The dilemma facing Act this year is how to link its seemingly unrelated campaigns and populist stands with the classic liberal vision being touted by its president Catherine Judd.

Judd launched the liberal project as a way to rebrand the party with the upcoming election in mind.

She says Act is sometimes known more for a collection of apparently conservative policy stands than as a party of vision, so it is time to reaffirm the party's liberal values.

She believes the rethink will help to position Act as a party with wider appeal, particularly to young, urban liberals.

The latest UMR/Insight poll shows Act could be making ground in this area with 10 per cent of people aged under 30 backing Act in a survey of 750 people.

The party will thrash out Judd's ideas on liberalism at its annual conference in Auckland next week.

But in addition to determining its own brand, the party must find a way to bring down Labour, which is rating higher than before the last election.

The polls show many voters feel comfortable with this Government and they want that to last. Act is just scary to them. Even Act insiders say parties who specialise in attacking Government hypocrisy, weak policies and money wastage, have so far been on a hiding to nothing because voters don't like their feeling of security being destabilised.

This has prompted differences in opinion about whether Hide's one-man show is the most effective kind of politicking. In the past, Act's co-founder Sir Roger Douglas has slammed Hide's politics as an "unco-ordinated solo mission in quest of personal glory".

Although some MPs share the same distaste, they say now is not the time for such snobbery. Although Hide may be a loose cannon, he is at least making the political hits. In the words of one MP, "there is no point in being right but not heard".

But Hide's campaigns are not without political risk.

Two of his most recent strikes have backfired, exposing him to media criticism and his colleague Stephen Franks to public ridicule.

Hide failed to let his caucus colleagues know it was him who alerted a journalist to the Judge Robert Fisher porn scandal.

Unaware of Hide's role in the publicity, Franks claimed the leak was an attempt by Attorney General Margaret Wilson to orchestrate a witch-hunt.

Hide has defended his role, saying other parties received the letter about the judge but failed to act on it.

Another Rodney Hide special attacked judges for attending a $72,000 taxpayer- funded conference at Wairakei resort. But Franks put out a press release supporting the gathering and the need for the judiciary to build professional relationships.

Franks, too, has muddied the message with his attacks on Helen Clark's trouser-wearing at the Queen's reception - a popular, but hardly liberal (or youthful) view.

This inconsistency in approach adds to the confusion of voters who are uncertain what Act stands for. If it continues it will blur any attempt to rebrand the party.

Next weekend's conference will also need to decide how to allocate resources for this year's election campaign.

While it can count on sympathetic National supporters to vote strategically to ensure Act makes it into Parliament as a potential coalition partner, the party has to at least come within cooee of the 5 per cent threshold for that to happen.

Otherwise Act supporters, afraid of wasting their vote, might tick National instead.

Some believe Act needs to try solely to secure party votes to maximise its number of list MPs in the House. Others want to split their efforts to include tilts at electorates like Epsom and Wellington Central.

Act deputy leader Ken Shirley has signalled he will push hard in the Tamaki electorate. He gave up the whip's job, citing the need to concentrate on his campaign.

Those MPs who believe they can win a seat, such as Hide in Epsom, will have a hard time convincing the party. Last time round Prebble lost Wellington Central to Labour's Marian Hobbs. Hide's strong campaign in Epsom failed and the party vote dropped by 1830 votes from the 1996 election.

If Act wants to make the shift advocated by Judd, it must develop a more coherent message than it has so far. Or it will find itself shut out of Hide's natural habitat - politics.