Editorial: Act farce will destabilise Govt

Act Party leader Rodney Hide. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

When NZ First fell apart in 1998 we thought we'd never again see a political party in such vicious, backstabbing disarray.

Winston Peters stormed out of government, taking half his MPs with him.

He left Tau Henare's "Tight Five", their Dirty Dog sunglasses and a few ragtag hangers-on to prop up Jenny Shipley's tottering National administration.

Henare memorably declared that, unlike his diminutive leader, he needed the extra leg-room offered to ministers on business class flights.

Then came the slow disintegration of the Alliance, in which party president Matt McCarten squabbled with the domineering leader, Jim Anderton.

From raids on the filing cabinets to Parliamentary security locking out staff, it was a soap opera that made Shortland Street look credible.

Now, Act.

Oh, how the taunts and allegations are flying.

Heather Roy called her leader "bullying". Rodney Hide called her "fragile". She complained about him to ministerial security. He allegedly warned of drug use. Her adviser condemned "pure, unadulterated BS".

The Act Party has degenerated into farce. More so than NZ First. Worse than the Alliance.

Like Peters and Anderton before him, Hide has shown himself to be a control freak, unable to accept any challenge to his status.

Roy was the only Caucus member who had not first been elected as an Act MP on Hide's coat-tails.

She challenged his authority after he was revealed to have flown his girlfriend round the world at the taxpayer's expense - he could not stand to be challenged.

Roy's behaviour, too, has raised major questions about her political judgment and the advice on which she relies - hardly reassuring given her responsibility for consumer affairs and her role in the biggest defence review in years.

But why waste time apportioning blame?

Frankly, it has got to the point where no one would care - even Act's staunchest supporters must surely be abandoning ship now - if it were not that the party's self-immolation has such a potential to destabilise John Key's Government.

The Prime Minister is being taught the same lesson that Helen Clark learned: However competently you run your own caucus, there's no guarantee your governing partners can do the same.

Yes, National has the numbers to govern without Act: It has the support of the Maori Party and United Future's Peter Dunne. But the Prime Minister has patched together a quilt of enormously contrary interests and individuals.

It is hard to imagine gulfs wider than those between Hone Harawira and Roger Douglas, or between Pita Sharples and David Garrett.

With Act flipping out, National must rely almost entirely on the Maori Party for its support - and the Maori MPs won't come cheap.

Their higher price could be on display for the first time this week, when Attorney-General Chris Finlayson is due to table the foreshore and seabed repeal legislation in Parliament.

The Herald on Sunday understands the draft bill strengthens protection for existing coastal businesses like aqaculture farms, by denying iwi a say on the renewal of their resource consents.

Now that the Maori Party's bargaining position is stronger, will its five MPs still tolerate that?

Similarly, the Maori MPs may push for more deals like those in Wellington and the Hawke's Bay, where unelected iwi representatives have the same voting rights as elected regional councillors on long-term planning.

Act would never tolerate such deals - this is the party that wanted government guarantees that Maori would not be awarded customary title to iconic beaches like Piha, Ohope and Wainui.

But Act's stock is now so low that it really can have very little influence. And nor does it deserve any.