By ANDREW LAXON
Act has begun a "thorough review" of its performance after a disappointing election result two months ago.
Proposed by the party president, Sir Roger Douglas, the review will be headed by the former National Party Finance Minister Ruth Richardson, now a strong Act supporter.
Party leader Richard Prebble announced
the review in his annual state of the nation address in Auckland yesterday.
He later confirmed that it would cover everything, including his own leadership, but said he fully expected to remain leader when it was over.
"The only person who's ever raised that issue is you," he told the Herald.
He said other review-team members included the prominent businessman Craig Heatley, Act board members John Ormond and Vince Ashworth, Act MP Muriel Newman, Sir Roger and himself.
An interim report would be presented to the party conference in March and the final report would go to the board in April.
The appointment of Ruth Richardson to chair the review could signal a "back to basics" message for Act MPs. At the party's 1998 annual conference, she called for $15 billion of cuts to state spending, while Sir Roger outlined proposed cuts of 80 per cent in health, 60 per cent in education and 30 per cent in welfare.
Last year, Mr Prebble described Sir Roger's view as "utopian" and openly acknowledged that Act was shifting to a more popular platform of treaty, crime and welfare issues to achieve its target of winning 20 seats in the coming election.
"This [new agenda] is something that not just 20 per cent of the electorate agrees with us on - 80 per cent agrees with us," he told the Herald a few days before Act's 1999 conference.
However, Act gained only one extra MP in November, despite a vigorous campaign based on ending Treaty of Waitangi grievances, stopping welfare abuse and longer prison sentences.
The party hit double figures a few weeks before polling day but ended up with just 7 per cent of the vote and nine MPs in Parliament.
Pollsters believe Act's treaty-fuelled support was falling anyway, when it was knocked in the last week by the sacking of Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere over a Maori immigration deal involving the husband of Act MP Donna Awatere Huata.
Mr Prebble, however, blamed the party's decline on a decision by TVNZ and TV3 to restrict leaders' debates in the final week to National's Jenny Shipley and Labour's Helen Clark.
