The ongoing debate about how New Zealand's foreshore and seabed should be owned and administered has given Act New Zealand list MP Hilary Calvert an ideal platform in Parliament.
Before entering Parliament as a replacement for disgraced MP David Garrett, Ms Calvert, a Dunedin lawyer, had been studying the planned legislation.
Act MPs were trying to force the Government to change parts of it or, even better, abandon it.
Ms Calvert said in an interview she believed the legislation would be killed off in 2011 because the time was not right.
After attending many of the submission processes for the Marine and Coastal Bill, she became convinced that the solution being proposed by the Government was not right for everyone.
"Until it is right, it shouldn't be passed. If we had tried to pass matrimonial property legislation in 1920, it wouldn't have got through. The time had to be right.
"The time is not right for the marine and coastal law. It will be abandoned at some stage."
Ms Calvert had an early win in Parliament when Attorney-general Chris Finlayson agreed to an amendment to the legislation which stopped the prospect of people being charged to use a beach.
The election year will give Ms Calvert a chance to travel widely campaigning on behalf of Act but she promised not to neglect Dunedin North, where she will be one of at least three MPs campaigning.
She was "officially" the Act representative for the South Island and her "electorate" was whoever she was speaking for in the South Island.
"It's not geographical. I will be speaking for all people who believe we belong to one country and that our laws have gone too far in the way they influence our lives."
One of the expectations about the arrival of Ms Calvert in Parliament was that the Act message would again be unadulterated.
Living in Dunedin, she had not lost the main focus of Act, which was a low flat tax, minimal laws and regulations and freedom of choice.
Asked how that had gone since her arrival, she said Act was "back on track".
"People say they are pleased I am there, which is a bit sycophantic in itself. But then they add 'because you are an Act person'.
"I have been looking through Act's confidence and supply agreement and know we are picking off all our goals. When you look at that, despite the distractions, we know we have been noticed."
One of her challenges would be trying to ensure Act did not follow the lead of other parties who have been in Government.
Those parties had inevitably lost votes at the next election.
"Good ideas come from minority parties. We do have more influence than a Government MP on the back benches."
Ms Calvert said it was a privilege to be on the other side of law-making after spending most of her career as a lawyer but she also realised that time had to be made for her family and herself.
This year, she intended resuming playing the harp, continuing with her Spanish study and trying to keep up with her gardens.
"You have to set goals for yourself and, for me, music has to be part of the mix," she said.
