Wheels keep on turning,
David Seymour’s day was supposed to start with an explosive TV interview, where he decried wasteful election bribes from the major parties.
But, at the last minute, the slot was cut, leaving Seymour scrambling to find another way to get his message across to voters days from the election. Such is the life of a minor party in a campaign dominated by the two big parties
The lone ACT MP is used to being on the outskirts but not sitting on the sidelines. That’s one advantage of being a minor party.
‘‘We often attack from the outside and we actually get our ideas accepted and make New Zealand a better place ... We can actually inject ideas and often they’re things the National Party wouldn’t do by themselves but they could conceivably do if they were pushed to.’’
He’s talking about ACT’s flagship policies of charter schools, paying teachers for ditching union contracts, and repealing the Resource Management Act (RMA), in order to take a free-market approach to education and housing.
Fresh off the plane from working at a Canadian think tank, Seymour stood for the Epsom seat in Auckland in 2014, held by the party since 2005, and won.
He’s spent the past three years alone, in Government, as Undersecretary of Regulatory Reform and Under-secretary of Education.
Every day’s been madness, he says.
11am: Jono and Ben
After a radio interview and a private business meeting, Seymour makes his way to a community hall in Pt Chevalier to film a skit for the comedy show Jono and Ben.
During the skit, Seymour’s advances are rejected by comedian Laura Daniels. In the end she concedes, ‘‘one dinner’’.
The director tells Seymour to look forlorn at the rejection. He takes it upon himself to improvise and responds to Daniels’ comment, ‘‘I was hoping to skip that part’’.
The cast and crew burst into laughter; looks of disbelief on their faces.
The 34-year-old is happy to take part in the less-serious side of campaigning.
Midday: Stadia of spending
Seymour and his campaign assistant head to North Harbour Stadium for the day’s big media event.
Seymour launches into his message of anti-Government spending.
‘‘The average taxpayer pays $10,000 per year in tax. North Harbour Stadium has 25,000 seats. So a capacity crowd here represents $250 million of taxpayers’ money. $10,000 per year for each of the 25,000 seats,’’ Seymour says.
ACT promises to save Kiwis $800m a year, or three North Harbour stadiums worth of taxes.
While he concedes a NationalACT Government would spend the least, he’s not afraid to rip into his current, and potential future, coalition partner.
‘‘While I’m critical of National, I’m critical of them because they are losing to Labour,’’ Seymour says.
‘‘And the reason they’re losing to Labour is that they just haven’t addressed the long-term issues in a principled way. So our proposition is, if you want centre-right government, you need a coalition and you need some vision.’’
2pm: Pamphlets galore
Next up, Seymour heads to Takapuna to shake hands and hand out the wad of pamphlets he keeps stashed in his jacket pocket.
Deputy leader Beth Houlbrooke is already there, she went ahead to cast her vote on Suffrage Day.
The pair is out to garner party votes from those in Takapuna, Brown’s Bay, Mission Bay and Houlbrooke’s home electorate of Rodney.
Minor parties have the added pressure of educating voters on the ins and outs of MMP.
Seymour’s pamphlets clearly state the party needs just 30,000 votes to get another MP (Houlbrooke), and a total of 45,000 to get a third (Brooke van Velden) – provided Seymour is re-elected in Epsom, the 5 per cent threshold doesn’t apply.
They get to work shaking any and every hand.
5.30pm: Drinks with David
Most of Seymour’s campaign days end with some form of libation.
He’s held ‘‘Drinks with David’’ events across the country. This day it’s beers in central Auckland.
This is where he gets to sit and chat with potential voters and feel a little bit more like the real Seymour – the Seymour who likes to cook, play guitar, and tinker with the canary yellow Lotus replica car he built himself.
‘‘If I’m right, and I do get reelected in Epsom, hopefully with a few buddies, then I’ll be going into that three-year cycle knowing how it ends,’’ he says, reflecting on the whirlwind of the past term.
‘‘In the last three years, it’s just been, as they say in Canadian politics, balls to the wall.’’