Act on false path - Douglas

Sir Roger Douglas has resigned as patron of the struggling Act Party and slammed its direction, saying it should not be a "front office of the Serious Fraud Office".

"In lots of policies they're fine, but the emphasis is wrong. There's far too much attention to scandals and things of that nature," Sir Roger told the Weekend Herald.

"It's not really why Derek [Quigley] and I established the party, frankly," he said.

"I don't think Act's been on-message for quite a long time. I've voiced that from time to time but I've done it in a very quiet way. Moving out from being patron enables me to say it in a more blunt way."

Sir Roger and Mr Quigley, who is now living in Australia, announced this week that they were resigning as Act's patrons, saying that would give them considerably more freedom to "comment on current issues".

The resignations are sure to complicate party leader Rodney Hide's job in trying to resurrect Act's abysmal poll-ratings, which spell doom at the next election if they do not improve.

Sir Roger, the reforming Finance Minister of the 1984-1990 Labour Government, said there was a huge debate going on within Act about policy direction.

"I've felt for too long that Act had got into side issues and been the front office of the Serious Fraud Office at times, rather than advocating the policies on which we were established.

"I would like to see the party get back to promoting the solutions to the issues which confront the country, like race, crime, health, education, housing, welfare and retirement."

Sir Roger backed Act MP Stephen Franks for the party's leadership during the bruising American-style primary run mid-year to choose Richard Prebble's successor.

Asked how helpful it was having a patron publicly sniping about the party's direction, Mr Hide said Sir Roger had always seen it as his role to be critical.

"He often used opportunities to make critical comments, so in a way there's nothing new in that.

"I've got huge admiration for Sir Roger, and I think he put his reputation and the party on the line to support Stephen, and you know, it didn't work."

Mr Hide said he had not known that Sir Roger and Mr Quigley had even been Act's patrons.

Sir Roger retorted: "If he said that, I'm not sure where he's been for the last three or four years."

Sir Roger said whether he was happy with Mr Hide as leader was not the issue.

"He is the leader and I think he's got the capacity to do a great job, but he won't do a great job unless he focuses on the issues that are important to people."

He had no doubt Act could get to 6 or 7 per cent but it had to appeal to those who joined the party originally.

Mr Franks said he disagreed with Sir Roger about the concentration on scandals.

"On the other hand, I agree ... that there have been policy issues where we haven't had a clear voice."

Act's polling in November

Herald-DigiPoll: 2.5pc.

One News-Colmar Brunton: 3pc.

National Business Review-Phillips Fox: 2.3pc

Sunday Star-Times-BRC: 2pc