A desperate Act
Willie Jackson's Opinion
Friday, 30th September, 2011
Act leader Don Brash is playing a dangerous game.
His declaration that cannabis should be decriminalised was in my view no accident. The general consensus seemed to be that his main man John Banks was caught off guard when Brash gave his view on this matter.
But I beg to differ because it looked like an orchestrated strategy designed to put Brash, Banks and Act back into the news.
Act is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as we count down to the general election.
They're averaging not much more than 2 percent in the polls and apparently bleeding members to the new right wing party, the Conservatives.
The Conservatives leader property millionaire Colin Craig is 30 years younger than Brash and attracted a surprising number of votes in the Auckland super mayoralty race.
In fact 40,000 Aucklanders supported Craig and his youthful appeal unfortunately for Brash could prove his and Act's undoing.
Brash would be acutely aware of the threat that Craig and his party pose so he probably thought that he needed an issue to put Act back into the spotlight.
What better issue than decriminalisation of cannabis?
It has appeal to the young and a significant number of New Zealanders support this proposal. In fact a Campbell Live poll of 13,000 people showed that 72 percent of them were in favour of Brash's idea.
So Brash would be hoping to cash in on that support and will have calculated that Act had nothing to lose by him expressing his opinion and pitching to the liberal voters.
Predictably Banks on the other hand placated the conservative Epsom and Act constituencies when he vowed that marijuana decriminalisation would not be a part of Act's policies. He looked tough and we saw flashbacks of how he'd gained a reputation for standing up against crime and dope smokers.
Brash and Banks know that just a 1.5 to 2 percent shift in the polls could mean the difference between three and six MPs for Act.
As a duo they have played it smart and got Act back on the news agenda at a time when it is nearly impossible to get positive coverage with the Rugby World Cup dominating the news.
Well that's what I think happened. I just can't believe that Banks didn't know what Brash was going to say about decriminalisation. It's either that or Brash is just an idiot who is totally out of sync with Banks and the Act Party. Surely he's not that stupid – is he?
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