A farmer and lawyer, Derek Quigley had entered Parliament just five years earlier as National MP for Rangiora. After his falling out with Muldoon he was an advisor to the Lange/Douglas Labour government, then a cofounder of the ACT Party. Re-elected to Parliament in 1996, he became chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence Select Committee, whose report Defence Beyond 2000 became the ‘ blueprint’ for the Clark Labour government’ s defence policy. Challenging the Status Quo is a principled conservative’ s insider history of New Zealand’ s evolving maturity from its golden years when it was beholden to Britain to its status as an independent nation in today’ s uncertain world. It highlights some of the successes and failures of the country’ s key politicians during that progression and illustrates what needs to be done to avoid the mistakes of the past.