David Seymour: Act Party Leader on 15 percent goal for next election

Act party leader David Seymour believes that Act can get at least 15 percent of the vote in the next general election. 

Seymour set the target while speaking at their annual rally in Auckland. 

David Seymour told Mike Hosking “You’ve got to find a balance of being a constructive partner – but also show you can make a real difference.” 

Seymour said “We have a government that’s slashing red tape – but the government has not gone as far as Act would go.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
At party had there an you'll get together over the weekend.
They set a goal for the next election of fifteen percent,
which would be a major boost from the eight point
six percent to of last year. Of course, David Seymore's
with us. Very good morning. What are the lessons you're
learning when you talk about this fifteen percent? What are
the lessons you're learning in MMP history the smaller party
in government vanishes. What are you learning that's going to
prevent you from doing that and getting fifteen.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
You've got to find a balance of being a constructive partner,
and I think from our opponent's point of view, this
coalition is dangerously united, but also showed that you can
make a real difference. So I look at the thirty
six points in the last quarterly action plan that our
government has, Eighteen of those came from ACT, and I

(00:43):
think we are showing that a we can be constructive
and collegial, but also we have by far the most
reformist government coming in in several decades. It's also the
first time ACTS being at the cabinet table, and I'd
like to persuade people those two are connected.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Okay, so last week was a good week for you
so that e reviews, the holidays, the sick leave reviews.
Do you reckon people connected that directly to ACT or
it was just a thing from the government.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I think over time people see a vibe. We have
a government that is slashing red tape. We've got a
government that is making savings. We've got a government that's
committed to the idea that each New Zealander has the
same inherent human dignity. We're not dividing ourselves by identity politics.
In each of those cases there's an ACTS signature attached

(01:34):
to it. But also in each of those cases, I
think it's fair to say that the government has not
gone as far as ACTS would go. And yes, it
has gone further than it would without ACT.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, I only we've talked about it since the budget.
But the Farmac, of which you're in charge of, the
canter drugs that weren't delivered national seems to have taken
the heat on that. But that then falls back on
you to a degree as well. I mean there's the
frustration on the some of the things you might want
it to have done but haven't.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
But if you look at Farmac, I mean, first of all,
we took a hospital pass. We had to put nearly
two billion dollars in just to keep it going because
that money had not been budgeted in the later parties
four years projection as that we inherit it. Second of all,
we're now doing everything we can to accommodate that national

(02:21):
party commitment and deliver more cancer drugs. That's been actively
worked on almost as we speak. So we will deliver
a lot more drugs, a lot more cancer drugs. However,
it's fair to say that you're trying to bring together
two models, one the farmac model that I'm responsible for,
and to the commitment to fund some non farmac drugs

(02:45):
that had been recommended by the Cancer Control Agency. I
actually think as we speak, we're doing a pretty good
job of integrating those two, and there'll be an announcement
I suspect sooner rather than later that will show we
can make them work together. I say that's an example
of being a constructive partner and government and ultimately delivering

(03:06):
better policy than we might offer. Did we not have
a coalition?

Speaker 1 (03:09):
I know you spoke to us yesterday. I suspect it's beltwegh.
But you've got some resignations, You've got some people that
didn't light the way the campaign went. They say, you've
got a culture is shoot, do you No?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
We don't. I mean, I look at the way that
actors operated, the caucus culture we've created, the staff retention
rates we have, the staff engagement has been measured by
the Parliamentary Services ACTS team having the best engagement every election.
People come, they have great expectations and then many of

(03:39):
them stay, but some decide that politics isn't quite what
they thought it was cracked up to be and move on.
And that's actually quite natural the way I look at it,
Actors grow in one thousand percent in the last five years.
A lot of new people have come along, and the
party's invested significantly in getting an expert reviewer who interviewed
sixty one different pace people made I think thirty six recommendations,

(04:03):
although I don't have that number right now, And actually
it's a sign that actors going from strength to strength.
But no, they'll always be journalists to do their best
to find the disaffected and amplify their voices. I don't
think it reflects a party that just had sold out
five hundred plus rally yesterday with people very excited about

(04:25):
the contribution we can make to New Zealand and the
way we can, I think restore the spirit of New Zealand,
which is an entrepreneurial culture of migrants from all over
the world here to make a difference in their own lives.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
While I've got you and you're the most senior member
of government will have on the program this morning. Should
the government this week launch an investigation into Tamarty Maray
and what may or may not have gone on in
the Mariah?

Speaker 2 (04:48):
It may well do, but the decision over whether we
do is sensitive. I actually think that Matthew Horton summed
it up pretty well. What needs to be done is
justice according to the law in a proper way. That
is already happening with several departments. We don't want to
see a government investigation that is portrayed as political because frankly,

(05:11):
that is what some people would like to see right now.
And we're actually here to show that our values are
doing things by the rule of law, by the book,
with fairness and equity for everybody are the right values.
So the question of should we very possibly, but we're
going to be balancing some pretty finely balanced interests here

(05:32):
to make sure that we get justice, and that also
justices seem to.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Be done all right, David appreciate time. David seymore the
act party leader this morning.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
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