Former ACT Party researcher and electoral agent, Grant McLachlan, said as a small party, ACT struggled to get much attention on the big issues like economic policy.
“So they started to look for other issues – or create new issues – where they weren’t going head-to-head with the National Party.
“They would create these astroturfs that would break new ground and they [ACT] would appeal to the ground that was broken.”
Astroturfs differ from ordinary lobby groups in that they purport to be something they are not. For instance, they may masquerade as groups of concerned citizens for instance, while actually pushing the interests of large corporates.McLachlan said ACT “weaponised” astroturfs.
He claimed the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union did a lot of the groundwork for the party in the 2020 election with their Campaign for Affordable Housing to fight the Green Party’s proposal for an asset tax.
