David Seymour: Deputy Prime Minister and Act leader on the attempts to oust Luxon

David Seymour says important work is going on, despite the ructions within National's caucus.  

National party leader Christopher Luxon survived a confidence vote yesterday, launched by Chris Penk.  

The Kaipara ki Mahurangi MP was then sent packing from his Cabinet portfolios for his efforts, and later announced he'll quit politics at the election. 

Coalition partner and ACT leader David Seymour told Ryan Bridge it shouldn't be the focus now.  

He says the government itself is a joint project, which is functioning very well. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right, he's done it again, lucks and survived a second
no confidence vote in four months.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
There was a confidence vote in my leadership this morning
at our caucus meeting.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
I have the full support of our caucus, and our
caucus is united and it is determined to win this election.
David Seymour, Deputy Prime Minister, Act Leader with me this morning, David,
good morning, Good morning. No changes for the coalition, right,
nothing's happened.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
No, you know, I was saying last night it kind
of looks like from a distance that it's all just
a bunch of politicians in Wellington. But there are different
institutions and the political parties one thing, the government's another,
and whatever may be happening in one of the political parties,

(00:43):
the government itself is a sort of joint project of
three parties, continues to function very well. I mean, just
yesterday we released that we've had record results for taking
unenrolled children, getting them enrolled and back school in the
first six months of this year. And you know, today

(01:05):
we'll have more to say about applings the government is
doing which are actually very positive. Like what well I
told you now I have to kill me.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
What about what about that pole unfortunately they are. What
about that poll last night, And it's not just that pole,
it's the polls that now show that, you know, every
pole we get, Opportunity gets a little inch closer to
actually crossing the five percent threshold. And then you have
Hipkins come out yesterday and say, well, it's up to

(01:36):
the voters. Now, it's up to the voters, and so
you could potentially have Opportunity to party Maldi, Green and
Labor and you start adding up the taxes and things
get pretty scary.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, and I think it's really helpful that that pole
has put the proposition to people at this point, so
they can really weigh their art. This Opportunity Party for
sense itself of centrist. I note in TV one's coverage
last night they paced them right in the center as
the keystone of the parties and their horseshoe graphic. And

(02:11):
yet this is a party that wants to raise taxes
by about twenty five billions so that they can pay
everybody a welfare benefit. That's a pretty extraordinary policy that
if the Greens came out with it, we'd say, well,
that's a radically left policy. But even the Greens haven't
done anything like that I think as people further examined, which.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Is going to be what happens now right. I'm speaking
to Quilae one at seven o'clock this morning, so I
have some questions. But in terms of the PMS called
a rule opportunity out, do you think actually, you know,
given you say they're pretty much left to the Greens,
it was a good thing. And would you rule them
out too? I mean, you wouldn't prop up in case
they do go back on it. You wouldn't be going
into any coalition deals or negotiations with top involved, would you.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Well, I just work on the basis of policy. You know,
there are two main policies, tax every bit of land
and the cot what that would do to farms and
the value of farms. In facts, it's it's not just
the tax you pay on your land, it's what it'll
do to land value because it will become very expensive
to own land in New Zealand. That's a policy that

(03:24):
we just aren't abide. And then this idea that you know,
instead of having some people on welfare and actually doing
our best to get them back into work, we'll just say, look,
bugger it. Everyone gets an unemployment benefit here's your here's
your four or five hundred bucks a week. If you
want to work, you can, but we're not really interested.

(03:44):
That's that's an extraordinary thing. And then on.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
That basis, David, we would never see act in government
with TOP Well.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
I mean, look, the funny thing is they say that
actually those policies aren't that important to them and maybe
they could give them up.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
So I'm just focusing.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
On the Okay, so you're so you're saying you could
work with top of they had a sex change.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Well I didn't, that's what you're saying, right, I didn't
realize what this early show was like. But all all
I would say is that, you know, they say that
they could give up the two biggest policies, which makes
you wonder if really the Opportunity Party or perhaps the
Opportunist Party.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
David Seymour at Party leader, DEPU Prime Minister. For more
from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio