David Seymour: Act Leader on the party standing candidates in local elections for the first time

The Act Party is hopeful its foray into local body elections will provide greater candidate transparency. 

Leader David Seymour is calling for expressions of interest of anyone keen to stand, saying it's time for a clean out of local councillors. 

Act isn't considering challenging the mayoralty in any parts of the country.  

Seymour told Mike Hosking it's about ensuring voters know what they're getting and how candidates are aligned. 

He says voters often don't know their candidates —or their beliefs— and end up disappointed with their councils. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New player in the local body election game for you.
This morning actor announcing for the first time they will
stand candidates come October. David Seymour's with us morning.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, Way.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Isn't this a big call? Do you need this headache?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's not a headache, it's an opportunity. I've been a
member of Parliament for a bit over ten years now
and I can't tell you how many of the issues
people bring to me. If I'm honest with them, I'd say, well,
that comes down to your counselor it's your counsel that's
making that decision. They have their own elected body. It's
really for them. Of course, I usually don't say that

(00:35):
because people want their problem solved by the person in
front of them. But I just feel that if New
Zealand has had people in front of them who they
know what they're getting because they're part of a brand
that the people who are committed to reducing wastes and rates,
helping people get where they want to get on via terms,
not socially engineering them into cycle ways, and believe in

(00:56):
universal human rights where we no longer divide people by
when their ancestors arrive. Those are three things where I
think ACT has a strong brand. I think there might
be people in each community who want to stand under
that banner and we'd get better local government as a result.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Why can't they do that as an independent? What are
you looking for? An independent or an ACT? Disciple?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, I think it's actually a combination of the two.
Disciple is a strong word, but you basically need to
know what you're getting, And often people will say to me, well,
my council sent me the little book. I look through
the names. I didn't know them, and I wasn't really
sure what I was getting, but I ticked someone anyway.
As a result, we end up with counsels that tend

(01:37):
to disappoint people. I think having a team of people
under a common brand and with a common set of
beliefs on your counsel could actually restore some of people's
trust and hope for what their council can do for them,
or in many cases not do, because I would say
they're doing too much.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Given there's a lot of councils and the fact there's
far too many councils in this country and far too
many council is. Do you worry about the quality in
your presence branding wise, that you go a bit thin
on the ground and you might find a few people
going rogue on you.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, that's why I'm calling it an exploratory campaign at
this point. If we get people we think are solid,
respected in their community, who can stand up and do
the business for three years if elected, then we'll go ahead.
There's always a chance that we won't and then we'll say, look,
we looked at it, but maybe people aren't ready for
this yet.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
At least we try it, all right for enough Nice
to talk David Seymour, the act leader.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
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