January 21, 2026 • 7 mins
ACT leader David Seymour says voters need to see the result of coalition policies before heading to voting booths.
The Prime Minister's announced the election will be held on November 7 - a later date than the past two, which were held in October.
Seymour says the Government's done a lot of work on the economy, and a later election will give voters time to see that.
"And I think it's only fair that people get to judge the Government on the benefits of its policies delivered before they choose."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we now have an official election date. It'll be
November seventh, and with the official vote counting taking up
four weeks, we might be getting coalition negotiations for Christmas.
David Seymour is leader of the Act Party and joins
me now, David, welcome back. Good to have you here
for a new year.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, likewise, right, it's nice to hear your boys.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So do you reckon we have a government buy it
before Christmas?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well? I hope so.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
And there's no reason why not. A lot of people
are frustrated about the time taken to count the vote.
I have to say I think that you take as
long as it takes, so long as we've got an
election that has cast iron and people can be certain
that the voting has been done freely and fairly. We
had some problems with that last election, and I actually
(00:44):
think that's a much bigger problem than has been given
attention to. So let them count the vote, and then
it's really a matter of well, what of the people
of New Zealand decided? And once we know that what
cards each party has, then you know we make a decision.
I can certainly tell you that a fact is in
a position to form a government. First of all, a
(01:05):
lot of people I've been talking to over summer won't
have to leave the country as they've threatened. But second
of all, I see no reason why we wouldn't get
it done in a couple of weeks, having had that
whole vote count time leading up to it to prepare.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
PM told you yesterday about the date, November seventh, sensible.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah, Look, I think one of the things that will do.
And I'm not saying this is why Chris chose the date,
but we've had a long, hard slog as a country.
I would trace it back as far as twenty nineteen
as when stuff started getting a bit difficult and it
didn't improve through COVID, and then we've had the recession
and you know the rest. We've done a lot of
(01:46):
work and a lot of people have made a lot
of sacrifices to get to the stage where a recovery
is actually underway. And I think it's only fair that
people get to judge the government on the benefits of
its policies to it before they choose.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
How was your trip to Argentina.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
It was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
You know, basically take off about two weeks a year
and I try and go somewhere else, because I love
when people come up to me and tell me what
they're thinking. But sometimes just for a couple of weeks,
go somewhere where no.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
One's going to do. That is a nice change, especially
for my partner.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
And we had a great time as a great country
of really friendly people and a lot of stuff just
works really well there.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, what do you make of the reforms? Are they working.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
All the evidence we have is that they have half
the number of government departments, They've cut government spending thirty percent,
They've removed a huge amount of red tape and regulation,
poverties come down, economic growth is up. They're balancing their
budget for the first time in a generation. So yeah,
they're doing the kinds of things that I would generally
(02:59):
genue generally advocate have the government focused on doing fewer
things and doing them well and then let the magic
of entrepreneurship and business and hard work out in the
rest of the community grow the economy.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
This U turn and Chris Bishop and the housing intensification
in Auckland. Has anything actually been through cabinet yet?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Well, if it had, it would be up to the
responsible minister. And I wouldn't give that away to announce it.
But at this point Cabinet hasn't actually sat this yet,
so it'll sit next week for the first time.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
So we're not actually sure what we're talking about yet.
Do you know what they're talking about, what the U
turn is?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, I'm just being as I was interviewed by the
Herald and they preded it this morning. I'm being respectful
of my various colleagues, most of them are called Chris
and letting them work through their process.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
But I think what is.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Clear is that what Auckland needs is faster consenting, faster
infrastructure connection and more homes getting built. What we don't
need is what we've had for five years, which is
Wellington basically imposing plan changes on us, because we've been
doing that since the end of twenty twenty one when
(04:13):
Labor and National had this stitch up. Then we push
that back and now we've had another plan that again
Auckland is aren't too happy about. And the tragedy of
it all is that I believe we do need to
get more homes. Belt If the next generation don't see
a pathway to property ownership, they'll either leave or vote
for people who militate against our community, and I think
(04:34):
it's critical that we actually get more home spelt. But
this Wellington meddling hasn't got us here, hasn't actually got
my home spelt. It's just meant lots of pingpong back
and forth.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
David, are you across the changes proposed changes to the
ComCom getting rid of the role of grocery commissioner, hooray,
waste time, waste of money. But the number of roles
that look like they'll be created seems to me, from
an outsider perspective, to be absurd.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
As I understand it, and this is outside my area,
but first of all, I campaigned against the Grocery Commission.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I always thought it was a bit of a joke.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I always had a picture on my own mind if
the four square guy with the apron and the pencil
running around harassing people hasn't actually got grocery prices down,
by the way, so appointing.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Another person in government isn't always the solution.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
But as I understand the reforms, and again it's not
my era, Scot Simpson's responsible for this, but what they're
trying to do is put in place a proper board
of governors who hold the management accountable for getting results
in that organization. Now, a lot they've had today is
sort of a halfway house between the two. So you
have these commissioners who are half governors half managers, and
(05:44):
it's not really clear who's holding who accountable for what.
So if you look at something like say Farmac, we've
got a really great board, We've got a great CEO
after some changes we've made and it's going really, really nicely.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
We've got a great announcement for war coming tomorrow. That's
of structure.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
But what they're talking about is a board. Okay, fine,
but plus a panel of up to twelve plus committees
on specific areas.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, and I can understand people will say, why are.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
You're creating more bureocracy. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
All I would say is that sometimes it actually makes
sense to have a good split between governance and management.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Where people and governance aren't full time.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
They basically show up periodically and say, right, guys, what
have you achieved since we last met? And that can
be helpful because if people are holding themselves accountable, sometimes
things go skew with Second of all, it is true
that they have to check if areas are competitive and
they're often quite technically different. So you know, I'm just
(06:44):
actually sitting in traffic like most of Auckland right now,
I've got a cement truck in front of me. The
economics of cement making, if you ever have trouble getting
to sleep, is a fascinating thing to read about. And
if you want to regulate it, then it's actually quite
difficult to regulate as a competition agency. I happened to
know this because I got involved in a case of
(07:06):
a while back in this area.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So you know, if I haven't bored you out yet.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You have yet turned it right out.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, But I make the point that you know, there
is there is a case they have some some specialist
people so that they actually know what they're talking about
and don't just go and willy nilly and makes confident.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Or in David appreciate it. David simoa Ak Patty Leader
with us from Traffic and Auckland.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
Well, we now have an official election date. It'll be
November seventh, and with the official vote counting taking up
four weeks, we might be getting coalition negotiations for Christmas.
David Seymour is leader of the Act Party and joins
me now, David, welcome back. Good to have you here
for a new year.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, likewise, right, it's nice to hear your boys.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
So do you reckon we have a government buy it
before Christmas?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well? I hope so.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
And there's no reason why not. A lot of people
are frustrated about the time taken to count the vote.
I have to say I think that you take as
long as it takes, so long as we've got an
election that has cast iron and people can be certain
that the voting has been done freely and fairly. We
had some problems with that last election, and I actually
(00:44):
think that's a much bigger problem than has been given
attention to. So let them count the vote, and then
it's really a matter of well, what of the people
of New Zealand decided? And once we know that what
cards each party has, then you know we make a decision.
I can certainly tell you that a fact is in
a position to form a government. First of all, a
(01:05):
lot of people I've been talking to over summer won't
have to leave the country as they've threatened. But second
of all, I see no reason why we wouldn't get
it done in a couple of weeks, having had that
whole vote count time leading up to it to prepare.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
PM told you yesterday about the date, November seventh, sensible.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah, Look, I think one of the things that will do.
And I'm not saying this is why Chris chose the date,
but we've had a long, hard slog as a country.
I would trace it back as far as twenty nineteen
as when stuff started getting a bit difficult and it
didn't improve through COVID, and then we've had the recession
and you know the rest. We've done a lot of
(01:46):
work and a lot of people have made a lot
of sacrifices to get to the stage where a recovery
is actually underway. And I think it's only fair that
people get to judge the government on the benefits of
its policies to it before they choose.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
How was your trip to Argentina.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
It was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
You know, basically take off about two weeks a year
and I try and go somewhere else, because I love
when people come up to me and tell me what
they're thinking. But sometimes just for a couple of weeks,
go somewhere where no.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
One's going to do. That is a nice change, especially
for my partner.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
And we had a great time as a great country
of really friendly people and a lot of stuff just
works really well there.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Yeah, what do you make of the reforms? Are they working.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
All the evidence we have is that they have half
the number of government departments, They've cut government spending thirty percent,
They've removed a huge amount of red tape and regulation,
poverties come down, economic growth is up. They're balancing their
budget for the first time in a generation. So yeah,
they're doing the kinds of things that I would generally
(02:59):
genue generally advocate have the government focused on doing fewer
things and doing them well and then let the magic
of entrepreneurship and business and hard work out in the
rest of the community grow the economy.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
This U turn and Chris Bishop and the housing intensification
in Auckland. Has anything actually been through cabinet yet?
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Well, if it had, it would be up to the
responsible minister. And I wouldn't give that away to announce it.
But at this point Cabinet hasn't actually sat this yet,
so it'll sit next week for the first time.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
So we're not actually sure what we're talking about yet.
Do you know what they're talking about, what the U
turn is?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, I'm just being as I was interviewed by the
Herald and they preded it this morning. I'm being respectful
of my various colleagues, most of them are called Chris
and letting them work through their process.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
But I think what is.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Clear is that what Auckland needs is faster consenting, faster
infrastructure connection and more homes getting built. What we don't
need is what we've had for five years, which is
Wellington basically imposing plan changes on us, because we've been
doing that since the end of twenty twenty one when
(04:13):
Labor and National had this stitch up. Then we push
that back and now we've had another plan that again
Auckland is aren't too happy about. And the tragedy of
it all is that I believe we do need to
get more homes. Belt If the next generation don't see
a pathway to property ownership, they'll either leave or vote
for people who militate against our community, and I think
(04:34):
it's critical that we actually get more home spelt. But
this Wellington meddling hasn't got us here, hasn't actually got
my home spelt. It's just meant lots of pingpong back
and forth.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
David, are you across the changes proposed changes to the
ComCom getting rid of the role of grocery commissioner, hooray,
waste time, waste of money. But the number of roles
that look like they'll be created seems to me, from
an outsider perspective, to be absurd.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
As I understand it, and this is outside my area,
but first of all, I campaigned against the Grocery Commission.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I always thought it was a bit of a joke.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
I always had a picture on my own mind if
the four square guy with the apron and the pencil
running around harassing people hasn't actually got grocery prices down,
by the way, so appointing.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Another person in government isn't always the solution.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
But as I understand the reforms, and again it's not
my era, Scot Simpson's responsible for this, but what they're
trying to do is put in place a proper board
of governors who hold the management accountable for getting results
in that organization. Now, a lot they've had today is
sort of a halfway house between the two. So you
have these commissioners who are half governors half managers, and
(05:44):
it's not really clear who's holding who accountable for what.
So if you look at something like say Farmac, we've
got a really great board, We've got a great CEO
after some changes we've made and it's going really, really nicely.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
We've got a great announcement for war coming tomorrow. That's
of structure.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
But what they're talking about is a board. Okay, fine,
but plus a panel of up to twelve plus committees
on specific areas.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, and I can understand people will say, why are.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
You're creating more bureocracy. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
All I would say is that sometimes it actually makes
sense to have a good split between governance and management.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Where people and governance aren't full time.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
They basically show up periodically and say, right, guys, what
have you achieved since we last met? And that can
be helpful because if people are holding themselves accountable, sometimes
things go skew with Second of all, it is true
that they have to check if areas are competitive and
they're often quite technically different. So you know, I'm just
(06:44):
actually sitting in traffic like most of Auckland right now,
I've got a cement truck in front of me. The
economics of cement making, if you ever have trouble getting
to sleep, is a fascinating thing to read about. And
if you want to regulate it, then it's actually quite
difficult to regulate as a competition agency. I happened to
know this because I got involved in a case of
(07:06):
a while back in this area.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So you know, if I haven't bored you out yet.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You have yet turned it right out.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, But I make the point that you know, there
is there is a case they have some some specialist
people so that they actually know what they're talking about
and don't just go and willy nilly and makes confident.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Or in David appreciate it. David simoa Ak Patty Leader
with us from Traffic and Auckland.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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