June 7, 2026 • 6 mins
The Act Party leader and Deputy PM talks about Fieldays and why he’s leaving a lot of the heavy lifting there to his Ag Spokesperson, Andrew Hoggard. We also pay tribute to the departing Mark Cameron and cast a critical eye over the Labour Party list rankings.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's the act Party leader and the Deputy Prime Minister.
His name is David Seymour. Normally i'd try and catch
him at field Days. But David, you're not going to
be at field Days until Saturday. You realize, of course
that's the towns Day. If you want the farmer vote,
you need to be there Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. You're
leaving the field wide open for Winston.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, he'll be up against Andrew Hogard, who I dare
say has a bit more farming knowledge than anyone else
in Parliament. Frankly, and you accuse me, you're going on
the towny Day. I am a towney. I may afford
you because I actually got some understanding and empathy for
rural in his zeland. But Towny's gone Towny Day and
Andrew Hoggat will be there for the prior days.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Well, that's a shame our paths won't cross. Nevermind, hey,
talking about acts politicians with real farm and cred. We're
losing one of the best in my mind, Mark Cameron.
He's had these kidney and health issues and he's had
a heart problem. He's off the donaist for a kidney transplant. Now,
now that was a bloke who was a breath of
(01:04):
fresh air in parliament, a bit of common sense. He
basically got out of the overalls, in the gun boots,
bort a suit for the first time in his life,
went down to Wellington and did something.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, I really liked the rite up on stuff. Don't
hear me say that? Every day but Stuff website had
a ride up on Mark and it said he put
on the suit, but he didn't change much else about
himself when he went from farming to politics. I would
credit Mark Cameron with the changes to methane. I think
(01:37):
if it hadn't been for Mark Cameron scaring the but
Jesus out of the National Party in rural New Zealand
for five years and then getting into government as we
did in twenty three and negotiating those changes to get
the methane levels in the Zero CARBONAC down to a
more reasonable target. But hadn't been for all that, I
(02:00):
don't think that change would happen, and I think we'd
still be facing a major challenge with methane targets for farming.
And the reason I say this is about a third
of Parliament changes every year, so basically there's forty or
fifty new ones and forty or fifty go out, so
about every sort of six to nine years, the whole
(02:21):
parliament change is over except for a few dinosaurs, of
which I'm kind of slowly becoming one, and most of
those people who go through they can't actually put anything
next to their name. But I believe that is Mark's achievement,
and it's a profound one, and he's done an awful
(02:41):
lot else besides to achieve what he came in for,
which is to basically restore the dignity of boroal New Zealand,
because you think back to twenty twenty when he got
in just constantly been castigated as public enemy number one
for everything.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And he's a real good blog to boot. All right,
what did you make of the Federated Farmer's election year? Wishless?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Oh, look pretty reasonable. I've got to say, I think
there's a lot of things there. Resource management reform, yep.
What we're doing with that new law I think is
going to be a game changer for New Zealand, bringing
in more activities into farm environment plans that don't need
any resource consent. In the meantime yep. Well, Andrew Hogard
(03:24):
is doing that, so I think, you know, we can
point to good progress and maybe there's more activities that
like broad in. It's always an open conversation. We never
said we're going to do everything in three years, otherwise
we wouldn't be running for office again. And you know,
more encouragements of rural New Zealand and the curriculum and
(03:46):
education and also in the apprenticeships. I mean all of that.
I think you know, we cannot say that rather we've
done to some extent, but we could do more. So
I would say, look basically challenging us to stretch further
in the direction that we've already been moving. Oh and
local government reform, you know underway a lot of those
mergers to ensure that, you know, rural voters don't get
(04:09):
out voted by large urban areas who have a lot
of votes but often not a lot of understanding of
the practicalities of farming.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Finally, what did you make of the label lists. I
don't even know if you've seen this release this morning?
Hipkins at one, Sepalone two, Leader and Deputy Leader Barbara Edmunds,
Finance at three, Willie Jackson four, Megan Wood's five, Asia
Oldtown Road averel at number six. Interestingly, Karen MacNulty's down
at ten, Jenny Anderson twelve, Damien O'Connor Trade, Joe Luxton
(04:40):
Agriculture at sixteen and seventeen. Minds you, if Labor polls
as they are at the moment, they might bring in
quite a few list MPs.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah. Look, I mean, I think the best indicator of
future performance is past performance. So if you look at
what Labour have done in the past, very loose on
the spending, ends up in inflation, ends up in higher
interest rates, and not a lot of respect for the
idea that it's actually effort and a reward that makes
(05:10):
the world go around. There's a lot of well, you know,
if you've done well, it's probably just luck, and we're
going to whack you for it. If you haven't done well,
we're going to subsidize you till you start moving. I
think at the end of the day, the difference between
us and the Labor Party is that we actually do
believe you get one shot in your time on Earth
and you've got to make the most of it. And
(05:31):
if your if it's payoff, then you should get to
keep more of the reward for it, and similarly, you
should be responsible for your actions the other directions. So
you know that's really the difference here. And so whatever
whoever their list is, whatever policies they eventually release, we
know that the need effect of a labor government is
that the harder you try, the more you get whacked.
(05:53):
They drain the joy from life, and that tends to
hit rural in New Zealand the hardest because if your rural,
you tend to take more risks, live by your wits
in a bit of good or bad weather, more than most.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Indeed, lest we forget David Seymour at Party Leader, Deputy
Prime Minister and Mark Cameron go well, my
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Friend, absolutely, brother
Here's the act Party leader and the Deputy Prime Minister.
His name is David Seymour. Normally i'd try and catch
him at field Days. But David, you're not going to
be at field Days until Saturday. You realize, of course
that's the towns Day. If you want the farmer vote,
you need to be there Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. You're
leaving the field wide open for Winston.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, he'll be up against Andrew Hogard, who I dare
say has a bit more farming knowledge than anyone else
in Parliament. Frankly, and you accuse me, you're going on
the towny Day. I am a towney. I may afford
you because I actually got some understanding and empathy for
rural in his zeland. But Towny's gone Towny Day and
Andrew Hoggat will be there for the prior days.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Well, that's a shame our paths won't cross. Nevermind, hey,
talking about acts politicians with real farm and cred. We're
losing one of the best in my mind, Mark Cameron.
He's had these kidney and health issues and he's had
a heart problem. He's off the donaist for a kidney transplant. Now,
now that was a bloke who was a breath of
(01:04):
fresh air in parliament, a bit of common sense. He
basically got out of the overalls, in the gun boots,
bort a suit for the first time in his life,
went down to Wellington and did something.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, I really liked the rite up on stuff. Don't
hear me say that? Every day but Stuff website had
a ride up on Mark and it said he put
on the suit, but he didn't change much else about
himself when he went from farming to politics. I would
credit Mark Cameron with the changes to methane. I think
(01:37):
if it hadn't been for Mark Cameron scaring the but
Jesus out of the National Party in rural New Zealand
for five years and then getting into government as we
did in twenty three and negotiating those changes to get
the methane levels in the Zero CARBONAC down to a
more reasonable target. But hadn't been for all that, I
(02:00):
don't think that change would happen, and I think we'd
still be facing a major challenge with methane targets for farming.
And the reason I say this is about a third
of Parliament changes every year, so basically there's forty or
fifty new ones and forty or fifty go out, so
about every sort of six to nine years, the whole
(02:21):
parliament change is over except for a few dinosaurs, of
which I'm kind of slowly becoming one, and most of
those people who go through they can't actually put anything
next to their name. But I believe that is Mark's achievement,
and it's a profound one, and he's done an awful
(02:41):
lot else besides to achieve what he came in for,
which is to basically restore the dignity of boroal New Zealand,
because you think back to twenty twenty when he got
in just constantly been castigated as public enemy number one
for everything.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
And he's a real good blog to boot. All right,
what did you make of the Federated Farmer's election year? Wishless?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Oh, look pretty reasonable. I've got to say, I think
there's a lot of things there. Resource management reform, yep.
What we're doing with that new law I think is
going to be a game changer for New Zealand, bringing
in more activities into farm environment plans that don't need
any resource consent. In the meantime yep. Well, Andrew Hogard
(03:24):
is doing that, so I think, you know, we can
point to good progress and maybe there's more activities that
like broad in. It's always an open conversation. We never
said we're going to do everything in three years, otherwise
we wouldn't be running for office again. And you know,
more encouragements of rural New Zealand and the curriculum and
(03:46):
education and also in the apprenticeships. I mean all of that.
I think you know, we cannot say that rather we've
done to some extent, but we could do more. So
I would say, look basically challenging us to stretch further
in the direction that we've already been moving. Oh and
local government reform, you know underway a lot of those
mergers to ensure that, you know, rural voters don't get
(04:09):
out voted by large urban areas who have a lot
of votes but often not a lot of understanding of
the practicalities of farming.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Finally, what did you make of the label lists. I
don't even know if you've seen this release this morning?
Hipkins at one, Sepalone two, Leader and Deputy Leader Barbara Edmunds,
Finance at three, Willie Jackson four, Megan Wood's five, Asia
Oldtown Road averel at number six. Interestingly, Karen MacNulty's down
at ten, Jenny Anderson twelve, Damien O'Connor Trade, Joe Luxton
(04:40):
Agriculture at sixteen and seventeen. Minds you, if Labor polls
as they are at the moment, they might bring in
quite a few list MPs.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah. Look, I mean, I think the best indicator of
future performance is past performance. So if you look at
what Labour have done in the past, very loose on
the spending, ends up in inflation, ends up in higher
interest rates, and not a lot of respect for the
idea that it's actually effort and a reward that makes
(05:10):
the world go around. There's a lot of well, you know,
if you've done well, it's probably just luck, and we're
going to whack you for it. If you haven't done well,
we're going to subsidize you till you start moving. I
think at the end of the day, the difference between
us and the Labor Party is that we actually do
believe you get one shot in your time on Earth
and you've got to make the most of it. And
(05:31):
if your if it's payoff, then you should get to
keep more of the reward for it, and similarly, you
should be responsible for your actions the other directions. So
you know that's really the difference here. And so whatever
whoever their list is, whatever policies they eventually release, we
know that the need effect of a labor government is
that the harder you try, the more you get whacked.
(05:53):
They drain the joy from life, and that tends to
hit rural in New Zealand the hardest because if your rural,
you tend to take more risks, live by your wits
in a bit of good or bad weather, more than most.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Indeed, lest we forget David Seymour at Party Leader, Deputy
Prime Minister and Mark Cameron go well, my
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Friend, absolutely, brother
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