Rodney Hide The ACT Party needs a new leader. Now why should that concern the gay community? Many people think ACT is a conservative party. It's not. It has conservative elements within it - most notably Stephen Franks - but the party is broader than that. Many within ACT consider themselves to be classical liberals. Yes, they like free enterprise and limited goverment. But when they limit government power they do so across the board. They aren't interested in censoring what publications you read or videos you watch. They aren't concerned about your sex life. And they are more than willing to give gays and lesbians equality before the law. On the other hand Religious Right groups like the Maxim Institute have wanted to drag ACT into positions closer to Peter Dunne's United Future Party. They have had a hard time of it. Maxim spent over $500,000 fighting prostitution law reform and they lost. They lost because they couldn't convince ACT MPs to completely line up with them. ACT MP Rodney Hide strongly supported the reform bill. Deborah Coddington was wavering and part of that was due to Stephen Frank's influence. Liberals within ACT discussed the bill with Coddington and in the end she voted for the reform measure - which passed by one vote. The right to die legislation which narrowly was defeated also enjoyed significant support within the ACT caucus. And the Civil Unions legislation also has support from Hide and Coddington along with other ACT MPs. Franks, to my knowledge, has not taken a position on the bill. But if past history is an indicator he'll find liberal sounding arguments to oppose the measure. Within the ACT caucus Franks represents the polar opposite of Hide. Where Hide is a liberal Franks is a conservative. And the party leader will always have a direct impact on how the caucus votes on such issues. If Hide is ACT leader the party will be far more inclined to support equal rights for gay people. If Franks is leader it will be pulled toward an opposite viewpoint. On the other hand recent polls indicate that without winning a local seat that ACT may be history. So should the gay community care? It should. There is a strong chance that the next government will be headed by Don Brash. Brash is basically a liberal himself. He voted for Tim Barnett's prostitution law reform. He supported the right to die bill. And he said he'd support civil unions. Those are views that won't win him friends at Maxim. Brash is in the odd position of being a liberal leading a conservative party. His natural inclination is to support equality for gays and lesbians. The conservatives in his party want an electoral victory but don't want Brash's social liberalism as well. But they can't have the one without the other. So they're happy to stick with Brash. But if Brash is the next Prime Minister he'll need allies in parliament. The MMP electoral system almost guarantees that any ruling party will need the support of a coalition partner. So where will Brash go? Clearly he's not going to embrace the Greens and vice versa. United Future should have died a well-deserved death by then and won't be an option - and if they were it would be a bad option. If ACT doesn't exist then Brash will be forced to embrace Winston Peters. That is not good for the liberal social viewpoint. Remember that the naturally conservative elements within National will already be pulling Brash in their direction. Add to that the unfortunate circumstance of having to seek Winston Peters support and Brash will be forced into taking positions that, in his heart, he knows are wrong. If ACT is still in parliament Brash will have an option that is open to liberal social views. Of course that also depends on whether the liberal Hide or the conservative Franks is leading the party. Either Labour will be relected or Brash will be next Prime Minister. That much is certain. The latter is currently the most likely scenario. But even a Brash victory is good news for the gay and lesbian community since Brash is a social liberal. But his ability to put his views into practice will be directly effected by what other parties are elected. The only party that will reinforce Brash's liberal views is ACT and then only under Hide's leadership. Recent polls have ACT below the 5% threshhold and unless they win a local seat their list candidates will all be booted out of parliament. That would automatically force Brash into seeking conservative support for his government. The most likely ACT candidate to win a local seat is also Hide in Epsom. And Hide's chances of winning Epsom would be enhanced if he were party leader. A Hide victory there would put ACT back in parliament and it would again open liberal options for Brash. It's strange but true that the ACT leadership battle may well determine the tone taken by the next government. If Hide becomes ACT Party Leader his chances of being elected in Epsom increase. If Hide is elected in Epsom then ACT is guaranteed to have representation in parliament. ACT seats in parliament give Brash a liberal option if he becomes Prime Minister. That keeps social liberalism alive in Wellington and that's good for the gay and lesbian community. - Jim Peron is a political and social commentator whose observations and comments are published at www.liberalvalues.org.nz . Jim Peron - 30th April 2004