Derek Quigley - ACT New Zealand

ACT New Zealand

One of his many consulting projects was to chair a major review of New Zealand defence for the Lange government.

In 1995, Quigley re-entered the political arena, joining forces with Roger Douglas to form the ACT New Zealand party. The new MMP electoral system, which made it easier for smaller parties to win seats, convinced Quigley that a strongly free-market party could indeed be successful. In the 1996 election, the first conducted under MMP, Quigley was returned to Parliament as an ACT list MP and chaired the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee during the next three years. Under Quigley's chairmanship, the select committee produced The Defence Beyond 2000 Report, which became the blueprint for the Clark government's radical restructuring of the New Zealand Defence Force.

Quigley did not stand for re-election in 1999 election and was immediately appointed by the incoming Prime Minister to review the contract the previous government had signed with the United States for New Zealand to acquire 28 near new F-16 fighter aircraft. Quigley advised the government to renegotiate the contract and acquire a lesser number of aircraft. One of his reasons for this recommendation was that cancellation of the contract would result in the disbandonment of the RNZAF's air combat capability. The government disputed this and cancelled the contract. Two years later, it disbanded the RNZAF's air combat capability, just as predicted.

Since early 2004, Quigley and his family have been living in Canberra, where Quigley is a Visiting Fellow at ANU's Strategic & Defence Studies Centre. He is writing extensively on trans Tasman and regional security issues and on the on-going situation between the United States and New Zealand over the latter's anti-nuclear policy.