Politics
David Seymour prepares his party for government. He told political editor Jo Moir that National alone cannot make a major change of course.
Based on his previous track record, ACT’s David Seymour believes National has no hope of making significant policy changes on its own if elected to power next year.
Seymour says New Zealand is at a point where the country is seeking a change of direction and a shift in policy settings, something he says happens about every 50 years.
“It’s happened before in the 1890s, the 30s and then again in the 80s. We have this tension where we just relax a little bit too much and people start to leave,” Seymour told Newsroom.
From productivity to drug access to education level, Seymour says the stats are starting to slip.
“Not to mention that we are a practically uninhabited country with a shortage of places for people to live.”
These are big challenges and Seymour says National cannot solve it alone.
“National, as it has done five times in our history, is in favor of consolidating Labor policy as long as it is they who do it.
“And if we don’t change course, our status as a first world country will be in jeopardy,” he says.
“If you look at the last five times National Labor has followed in government, Labor’s policies have made it through the transition unscathed.”
New Zealand First was famous for calling itself a handbrake for the so-called far-left ideas that Labor and the Greens had raised during its coalition agreement.
Asked if Seymour saw ACT more as an accelerator of National’s lukewarm right-wing ideas, he said this was a “very good metaphor” for describing the kind of change ACT wants to help bring about in New Zealand.
“I suspect that unfortunately we’re going to spend more time talking about things, like identity, that have become fashionable under this administration.” – David Seymour
Since entering parliament in 2014, Seymour has worked with six different National Party leaders and says his relationship with all of them has been good, including currently Luxon.
And just because they’re in politics for various reasons, Seymour says that doesn’t mean they won’t work well together in a future government.
Seymour goes on to say that Luxon is “driven by a desire to become prime minister” – a contrast to him and his MPs who he says are “driven by wanting to leave different policies for New Zealand”.
As the 2023 elections loom, political parties are turning their attention to where voters want to see change.
While Seymour says there are several “fundamental issues facing the country”, such as how New Zealanders “make money” in the current climate – those are not the focus.
“Things about the quality of government services and the quality of regulations are the kinds of things that the engineer in me wants to solve.
“I suspect that unfortunately we are going to spend more time talking about things, like identity, that have become fashionable under this administration.
“Something mundane like water pipes has permeated the co-government agenda,” Seymour told Newsroom.
If ACT had its way, it would do nothing about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which led to the co-management debate in recent years.
“It can absolutely be ignored, it’s a statement, it’s not an obligation … it has very little status in terms of international law,” said Seymour.
Policy-wise, Seymour has even more he wants to do before considering a life outside parliament, provided voters are kind to him in the next election.
“I want to achieve a few more things, I’m not interested in jobs or certain positions.
“I would rather vote for a flat tax in the back seat than introduce what we now have as finance minister.”
Seymour says it is a powerful and underrated position not to want any of the government trinkets.
When ACT sits down at the negotiating table with National next year, Seymour says the willingness to go with only one party is not a disadvantage.
If National isn’t willing to budge on policy positions, a minority government might “need to negotiate every Monday” to get things done, Seymour says.
“I think people probably underestimate the ability of a party determined to win with policies that aren’t fixated on trinkets.”
There is, of course, the possibility for another party, Te Pāti Māori, be in a kingmaker position, which, in contrast to ACT, has not completely ruled out cooperation with other parties.
Some recent polls have already predicted that outcome, making next year’s election anything but a foregone conclusion.