Seymour takes a jab at Ardern’s halo

It was pretty rich of David Seymour to accuse National of stealing Act’s policies on charter schools when in the next breath he did the same with New Zealand First.

Reducing the size of Parliament was ostensibly the theme from Seymour’s speech to his party conference in Auckland yesterday.

Focusing on the size of Parliament was also an easy segue to talk about abolition of the Ma¯ ori seats without looking like gratuitous Treaty baiting.

It was hardly the sort of focus that heralds Act as a party of new ideas.

It is a sign that whatever else the Act party becomes at its planned relaunch next March, and whatever else it is called, it won’t be abandoning hot-button issues around the Treaty of Waitangi.

The raid on New Zealand First policy is logical from Act’s viewpoint.

There are a host of shared policies which New Zealand First will not be able to credibly campaign on next election as vigorously and viciously as it has because it is inside the Government tent.

Law and order will be one of those areas. Why wouldn’t Act make them its own.

The smaller Parliament policy suits Act more than it suits New Zealand First.

For New Zealand First it has been all populism. Despite the reduction of Parliament being one of its 15 founding principles for 25 years and despite holding the balance of power twice, New Zealand First has never made it a bottom line.

Former New Zealand First MP Barbara Stewart had a private member’s bill in 2006 to cut the size of Parliament — which was supported by one other party — Act. This is simply an old song with new singers.

The most original feature of Seymour’s conference speech was his attack on Jacinda Ardern in a most carefully calibrated manoeuvre to prod her halo.

She is genuinely one of the nicest MPs, Seymour said, and we wish her well in motherhood.

But she was not a real Prime Minister, he said. No one was scared of her. She was not tough like Helen Clark or John Key. She was a show Prime Minister, said Seymour.

“The economy could go straight over a cliff and Jacinda will go on smiling as it crashes all around her.”

National has avoided personal insults because it knows that many of its own supporters, particularly women, want Ardern to do well.

But there are a few people who quietly despise Ardern and in Act’s sole MP, they now have a voice.