An imploding ACT

The only good thing about the leak of the 80 page “note” by Heather Roy is it has made people in the party realise how dire their situation is, and has prompted Heather to pledge to remain an ACT MP, and work towards rebuilding a relationship with Rodney Hide – and vice-versa.

I doubt I am the only person who is saddened by the considerable enmity that has built up between two MPs I have liked and respected.

The release of the “note” is very damaging to ACT, and at a time when they should be well above 5% due to National’s centrist agenda, they will remain down in the polls, as voters won’t support a party that is so caught up in infighting. Voters rightly think why should we trust a party to run the country, when they can’t even run their own party.

The number of people who had access to Heather’s “note” must be incredibly limited, and Heather may wish to consider the motivations of the person who leaked it. At a minimum it is someone who puts their own interests about that of their party’s.

There is also the issue of the defence report, as covered by NZPA:

In Parliament, Labour MP Trevor Mallard said Mr Hide gave the report to Mr Kearney, possibly through a staff member.

“Nick Kearney, who until last night was a member of the ACT board, has now resigned from the ACT board because he has been caught trying to give New Zealand defence assessment papers to a blogger,” he said. …

Mr Kearney told NZPA he was not given a copy of the report, had never seen it and did not know what it contained.

The allegation he was given the report was made by a fellow board member who was a supporter of Mrs Roy, he said.

The allegation was made during a confidential board meeting discussion, he said.

“It staggered me, it was jaw-dropping, and I said ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about’,” Mr Kearney said.

I don’t have first hand knowledge on this allegation, but I will say this – I trust the word of Nick Kearney, and would be amazed if he has had a copy of the report, when he says he has never seen it.

While on the other hand, if Trevor told me about gravity, I’d still want to throw a ball up in the air to verify what he said.