ACT Deputy Leader Hon Ken Shirley said from East Timor today that the ACT team in Tauranga was considering whether he should withdraw as a constituency MP for Tauranga and just go for the list vote .

"ACT's polling confirms a recent public poll that Winston Peters is on less than 30%, and more importantly, 70% of the people of Tauranga do not want him as their MP.

"The anti NZ First vote is split and it appears that Katherine O'Regan has the best prospect of preventing Mr Peters stealing the seat," said Mr Shirley.

"Mr Peters has been a disastrous representative for Tauranga. Under his period as Treasurer, Tauranga went into its first recession with rising unemployment in the last decade. In Parliament he and his populist rabble have been erratic and are one of the principle causes for the present low esteem of Parliament. Ken Shirley emphasised that he and his wife Jenny now live in Tauranga and that he had no intention of altering his commitment to the Bay of Plenty region.

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