Facing The New Challenges

Hon Heather Roy, ACT Deputy Leader
Saturday, March 14 2009

Hon Heather Roy speech to ACT Annual Conference 2009; Raye Freedman Centre, Epsom Girls' Grammar, Silver Rd, Epsom, Auckland; Saturday, March 14 2009.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A year ago I spoke to this conference on the theme of 'Choosing Success' - many of you will recall that that speech centred on a vision for New Zealand, and what ACT needed to do to be part of its implementation.

I also spoke at the ACT regional conferences using two presentations, titled 'The Power of 8' and 'When Hearts Lead', about how your local effort could be aligned with our overarching goal. Your collective efforts were superb and, for that, I wish to thank you all personally.

Many would say of Election '08 that we were successful. From media speculation of our electoral irrelevance only a year or two ago, we are now part of a new Government with an expanded caucus of five MPs - two of whom are Ministers - and several important ACT policies on the table. Our new MPs have already earned the respect of many in the House for their quick adaptation to Parliamentary life.

Gratifying as all that is, however, our biggest challenges have just begun. Top of the list is to deliver on the expectations of the 85,496 Kiwis who voted for us. We have all watched sports teams charge out to a strong lead and then switch to a defensive mentality - only to see the spark and flair disappear from their game and their advantage whittled away by a determined opposition.

I don't intend to see that happen to ACT. The best way to defend and extend our gains is to exploit success by continuing to play as though we were behind on points. It's true that, in Government, we must take a more measured approach than in Opposition - but that doesn't mean becoming passive, defensive, risk-averse or unimaginative.

We must re-establish our political relevance every single day; we have to run a new 'personal best' in every race we enter - whether it be as individual MPs, as a caucus, as Party members, or as a team with a shared purpose.

It may seem facile to ask you what the main ACT message was in Election '08, but it is that which we build from to deliver on voter expectations. We promised to 'Bring Our Children Home' - what did we mean by that?

Like those who voted for us, that campaign theme had different meanings to each of us. To me, it meant creating an environment in New Zealand - in terms of economic strength, safety, education, health and lifestyle - that would be irresistible to our young people as a first choice for where they wanted to live and raise their children. It would not only offer more than any overseas choice, but would tempt the nearly half a million who had already become expatriate Kiwis, to return - and to bring their families and collective ability and wealth with them.

I view our task as being very similar to my role as Minister of Consumer Affairs. In that portfolio, my duty is to provide a framework within which consumers get what they expect when buying a product or service and that there are simple, appropriate solutions when problems arise. One thing is certain: if the ACT voter of 2008 is disappointed in the product, they need only wait till 2011 to choose another brand - and we can be sure that, like retail consumers, the dis-satisfied voter will tell at least 20 others in the meantime.

As Associate Minister of Education, I have responsibility for Special Education - including gifted and talented learners - as well as Independent Schools. Again, I see considerable alignment, in that my role in creating a governance structure for the creation and delivery of specialised learning is very similar to the challenge of niche audiences and political messages that are a reality for ACT.

On becoming Associate Minister of Defence, regrettably, I've had to hang up my uniform in order to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. I now 'fight' for the Defence Force in different ways. The same situation is true for ACT; our old ways of 'blowing stuff up' - which that were so effective in Opposition - are not acceptable in Government.

That's not to say we should stop being feisty, or pointing out where things need improvement, but our 'fight' is a different one now and we must quickly adapt our image from scrappers to planners.

We heard from Prime Minister John Key this morning about the strength of the National-ACT relationship. We need now to maximise our opportunities of being in partnership with National. By election campaign 2011 we must be able to show the public a number of achievements that have only been gained because ACT is part of Government.

Both ACT Ministers must be seen as well-researched and briefed, hard-working, having good intuition for issues, having considered and consistent approaches to portfolios, respected, proactive and building a better New Zealand for our children. The ACT Parliamentary team must be viewed as balanced, cohesive and having vision and clear direction and able to clearly articulate this to others.

You have already heard several people talk about commencing the 2011 campaign now. I agree. But to whom, and with what messages? We must find new audiences and channels if we do not wish to see our outcome eroded.

For instance, the largest 'electorate' of Kiwis lives overseas. A 16- year-old in 2009 will vote in 2011. We're not going to reach either group through letterbox drops, public meetings or media releases. We all saw how effective the Greens' emotive campaign was, even though it was devoid of any substantial policy. Just think how powerful that technique could be if combined with our well thought-out manifesto.

In the defence forces of the world, a new battlespace domain of increasing significance is cyberspace - which is not just the internet, but the entire electro-magnetic spectrum. Experts in this field are considered out of touch in their early 20s.

We have a lot to think about, but not much time - which is why I am keen to establish a 'Future Leaders' group of young, forward-looking ACT members to help chart a course in this rapidly changing world of personal values and technology.

Amongst other things, this group will assist us in campaign planning for non-traditional audiences. However, it is also an essential reflection of the role of today's leaders that we undertake succession planning in order to ensure that the ACT Party goes on and grows on.

I'd like to leave you with a reminder of our 2008 election promise to 'Bring Our Children Home'. For those who didn't see this clip last year, the music video is all original work produced by ACT people. It is interesting to note that the five MPs now in caucus feature in the last segment - but this video was produced three months before the election.