ACT Caucus to Meet in Hawke’s Bay This Week

Monday 5th Feb 2001 Richard Prebble Media Release -- Governance & Constitution

The ACT Party Caucus will be meeting for three days in Hawke’s Bay this week, working on strategies to tackle the important issues facing New Zealanders this year, ACT Leader Hon Richard Prebble said today.

“ACT was the first party to start holding regular caucus retreats. They are a crucial part of how we operate, as they enable us to determine our policies and strategies and look in depth at the issues confronting the country. In the past other political parties only had retreats such as this when they faced a crisis. By meeting in this way we are able to think through our position on issues and have a clear policy, so that we are not ambushed as matters develop.

“Superannuation is going to be one of the biggest issues this year. We have been doing a lot of work on the subject and the Cullen proposals over the holiday period.

“The more you look at the Government’s planned scheme, the more legitimate are the concerns. It is clear that any scheme involving $65 billion controlled by politicians is going to provide a frightening amount of economic power.

“We are holding our first caucus retreat for the year in Hawke’s Bay because ACT has done very well in the region. It was where we had one of our biggest lifts in vote during the last election. By taking the MPs away from Wellington and into the community we get very valuable feedback. We will be holding some public meetings during our retreat and meeting with the party membership – which is very strong in Hawke’s Bay. We will also be visiting a number of important industries in the region.

“Of course the National Party Caucus is also meeting in Hawke’s Bay this week and we will be taking the opportunity to have a joint caucus meeting with them – which I believe is the first time the full caucus memberships of two political parties have had such a meeting. We will be discussing issues of mutual interest.

“I think under MMP you will see that what we have started with this joint caucus meeting will be picked up by the other parties,” Hon Richard Prebble said.

ENDS

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

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