Garth Harrison: ACT Life Member

The fate of a political Party lies very much in the hands of its members and supporters - while MPs and Ministers are responsible for promoting their respective Party's policies in Parliament, it is the generosity and spirit of Party members and supporters that enable them to be there.

Those members and supporters are the life blood of their party - through their hard work, dedication, commitment and generosity of their donations and time.

No Party is more aware of that fact than ACT - and it is for that reason that Sir Roger Douglas and I travelled to the Kapiti Coast on the afternoon of March 15 to honour a longstanding ACT member.

At the Raumati RSA, we recognised the efforts and loyalty of Garth Harrison - a very special man who has provided an invaluable contribution to ACT New Zealand over the years - by presenting him with an ACT Life Member Award.

This is the first ever Life Membership bestowed by the ACT Party. We presented it to Garth in front of his extended family and around 30 ACT representatives from around the country.

I'm pleased to say he was completely surprised - the event was the culmination of weeks of scheming and planning to ensure it was a surprise.

Sir Roger and I then addressed the meeting and recounted stories of Garth and his exploits in both the Labour and ACT Parties. Among these were the tales of Garth working as a taxi driver during the 1970s. At that time, he regularly chauffeured MPs to and from the Beehive, and took great joy in telling MPs where they were doing well - or, more often, when there weren't.

Something of a local celebrity for his antics, Garth was also famous for his popular 'Get Rid of Muldoon' raffles - which he ran quite effectively from his taxi.

Garth joined ACT when it was first formed in 1994 and has remained a prominent member to this day. He has helped ACT campaign through every election the Party has contested. He has given tirelessly of his time and can always be relied upon to help the local ACT branch with any kind of initiative - from organising a regional conference, to running raffles or manning sausage sizzles.

Given that this week saw the Royal New Zealand Air Force celebrate its 72nd birthday, readers might also be interested to know that Garth qualified as an RNZAF pilot and was awarded his wings in the last ever graduation ceremony of WWII.

Lest We Forget - Establishment Of The Royal New Zealand Air Force

The Royal New Zealand Air Force celebrated 72 years of service to New Zealand on April 1. The RNZAF has a proud history of service - ranging from defending the Pacific and fighting alongside Britain's RAF during WWII, to assisting with peace-building in countries like Timor-Leste and Afghanistan.

New Zealand's military aviation began in 1913 when the UK presented the New Zealand army with two Bleriot monoplanes. During WWI, Kiwi air crews fought as part of the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. The government assisted two private schools to train pilots for the conflict and New Zealand pilots serving with British forces saw service in all theatres.

After WWI, Britain gave New Zealand 100 war-surplus aircraft but - as the importance of military aviation was not recognised - these were put in storage or loaned to private users.

It was not until 1923 that, following a concerted campaign by Sir Henry Wigram, the New Zealand Permanent Air Force was formed - the core of which consisted of pilots who had served with the British during the Great War - as part of the New Zealand Army.

The NZPAF first saw action in 1930 by dropping an improvised bomb - made from a treacle tin - on to a ship suspected of smuggling arms. The bomb did no damage - and the target turned out to be a local missionary vessel.

With the European political situation deteriorating in the mid-1930s, the RAF was expanded and King George VI gave permission for the NZPAF to be renamed the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

The incoming New Zealand Government conducted a Defence Policy review and approved Defence spending increases. The Government also commissioned a review of air defence requirements in 1936 and British wing commander Hon Ralph Cochrane - seconded from Britain - recommended an Air Force as a separate arm of the Defence Force.

Government agreed with Cochrane's report and passed the Air Force Act on April 1 1937, officially establishing the RNZAF as an independent arm of New Zealand's Defence Force.