By EUGENE BINGHAM
Act began firing its first shots in Opposition yesterday, with leader Richard Prebble lining up targets in the new Government and signalling it will push its "one law for all" stance hard.
Refusing to dwell on how the party had not done as well as it had hoped, Mr Prebble plotted out its likely assault plans.
He cited tax and private property rights, before advancing on Treaty of Waitangi issues.
"On the treaty and constitutional matters we will be very vigilant," he said, picking out fresh MP and possible Treaty Negotiations Minister Margaret Wilson along with Sandra Lee for particular attention.
"I have been very concerned with what [they] have been saying."
Mr Prebble outlined the party's focus in Opposition yesterday after talks with his three new MPs, Stephen Franks, Penny Webster and Gerry Eckhoff.
The trio will enter a caucus room which will have no blood on the floor - but a whiff of disappointment in the air.
Polls only weeks out from the election had the party tracking above 10 per cent, giving Mr Prebble the confidence to predict there could be 15 Act MPs.
But the election-night result gave Act just 7 per cent, entitling it to nine representatives. None of Act's existing MPs lost their jobs, but the party's numbers in Parliament have risen by just one.
Addressing supporters at his Wellington headquarters early yesterday, Mr Prebble remained upbeat, declaring Act one of the winners of the election because it had beaten the swing against the centre-right. Later, he conceded the party had not done as well as it had hoped in the rural seats in particular, though he said he was buoyed that "rural New Zealand was looking hard at Act's policies."
Mr Prebble believed the drive for the party vote by National and Labour in the last week of the campaign had hurt Act and the Alliance.
He also blamed television coverage that concentrated on Helen Clark and Jenny Shipley in the last week of the campaign for some of the Act slippage.
Auckland University political scientist Dr Raymond Miller agreed Act might have suffered from a lack of exposure in the last week.
Mr Prebble had received a "huge amount" of coverage early on but had been "squeezed out" by the interest in National and Labour.
He was surprised Act's support did not stand up and said the party would be very disappointed.
Auckland appeared to be fertile territory for the party, with its biggest successes all in the Queen City.
In Epsom, it attracted more than 16 per cent of the party vote. Other seats to figure well included North Shore and Tamaki (14 per cent), Albany and Pakuranga (12) and Hunua (11).
Several hundred Act supporters, including party founder Sir Roger Douglas, watched election results on a big screen at a downtown hotel.
Sir Roger sat at a long table, listening to a transistor radio through an earpiece, scribbling down results in a diary.
"An old bugger like me can't hear that," he said, pointing to the big screen.
Act reloads for battles on taxes, land claims
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