Role as sole MP may change soon
Today the Otago Daily Times begins a series of interviews with the leaders of the political parties now in Parliament. In part one, Act New Zealand leader David Seymour talks to Mike Houlahan about how he would solve the Tiwai Point issue, the End of Life Choice referendum, and his hopes that he will no longer be his party’s sole MP in Parliament.
BEING a oneman band in Parliament can have its advantages — being Act New Zealand’s sole MP means David Seymour’s allotted office is a spacious room near the Parliamentary Library, one once used by Richard Seddon.
On the other hand, being a lone MP for six years has seen Mr Seymour carry a heavy workload — especially when stewarding through the End of Life Choice Act to the point where it will be voted on in a referendum alongside the general election.
On current polling that heavy workload could bring a Parliamentary reward for Mr Seymour, as Act is seemingly on the verge of returning more than a single MP for the first time in nine years.
‘‘We poll for the reasons why people support Act and certainly poor performance by National is the third or fourth most popular reason,’’ Mr Seymour said.
‘‘The popular reasons are speaking sense, like the policies, think the party holds them all accountable: those are the things that show up, so clearly some of the support is because of National, but less than people might think.’’
The other boost to Act’s fortunes has been the End of Life Choice debate — Act’s revitalisation in the polls coincided with its being passed by Parliament.
While the legislation was a Member’s Bill, Mr Seymour believed his close affiliation with the review would not distract voters from supporting his party.
‘‘It’s the most popular issue that Act has ever championed so I’m not too worried about being associated with that, but certainly I will vigorously defend any misinformation about the referendum.
‘‘If I am talking about that issue then I don’t think that will hurt Act, but I also have to consider Epsom.’’
Retaining Mr Seymour’s Epsom electorate, for a decade Act’s lifeline into Parliament, means he might not be as visible around New Zealand as other party leaders.
Act’s campaign in the South has already struck turbulence, its Southland candidate Basil Walker resigning to stand as an independent in Invercargill.
‘‘We regret selecting Basil and we wish him all the best for his future endeavours,’’ Mr Seymour said.
‘‘I think we may still have a candidate before nomination day, but our appeal to people in the South is that it’s your party vote that counts, and people will see from the quite extraordinary efforts of our local volunteers putting up hoardings across the deep south that actually we do have quite a lot of support in the area.
‘‘Every vote counts, believe me, and one thing is for sure is that the South Island is one of our best sources of members.’’
If there is one southern issue Mr Seymour can speak on with some authority, it is the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.
With a degree in electrical and electronic engineering, Mr Seymour knows more than most about how power gets from point A to point B, and reforming the electricity transmission system is his plan for making the plant economically viable.
‘‘Our solution is very simple; legislate consent for a transmission line, that allows them [smelter owner Rio Tinto] to threaten Transpower with building one.
‘‘Once they can do that Transpower has to invoke a prudent discount policy and that is actually going to save Tiwai Point $40 million a year and means that it actually will work as it was originally intended.
‘‘Remove the crazy restrictions which prevent the transmission lines being built: there’s no environmental problem, it’s very clean technology.’’
Firearms reform has been a fraught issue in the South for two reasons — the fact the Christchurch terror attack perpetrator lived in Dunedin for some time, and the extensive use of guns in the South, both for leisure and pest control.
Act, a party with its origins in economic policy, seems an unlikely advocate for gun owners’ rights, but Mr Seymour explains his recent alliance with the gun lobby — Nicole McKee from the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners is ranked third on the party list — as a fairness issue.
‘‘I personally am not a firearms guy, I go to firearms clubs and I say ‘look, I’m not a gun guy, I’m a latte guy from Parnell’,’’ Mr Seymour said.
‘‘But what I do like is the rule of law, due process, and treating people with basic respect and dignity . . . I don’t think those people were treated with respect and dignity, and I don’t think they are unreasonable people.
‘‘Most of them are salt of the earth people, good people, who are mystified. They are just as horrified as the next person by what happened in
Christchurch, probably more so because they have a bit of a connection in a sense, and they feel they are being punished for it.’’
Mr Seymour believes another boost to Act’s fortunes has been its rigorous questioning of the Government’s response to Covid19.
A forensic questioner as a member of Parliament’s epidemic response committee, Mr Seymour continued that scrutiny when Parliament resumed sitting postlockdown.
‘‘They saw Act providing a consistent, constructive voice, providing criticism where necessary and helpful advice where possible,’’ he said.
‘‘If you look at the language we were using in late April, when we said that we should be emphasising safe activities not essential activities, the Government actually adopted that language four weeks later in its Budget.
‘‘Now today we talk about public health, we talk about the debt trap, we talk about seizing the opportunity of being an island nation on a pandemic planet, we continue to offer that critique.
‘‘We’ve never gone after the Government and said ‘you’re all useless’. We have acknowledged that this is a difficult situation for any government to face.’’
Unsurprisingly, Mr Seymour believed Covid19 — both the health response and the economic recovery — would be the dominant election issue.
‘‘People fundamentally want to know what is the plan for recovery,’’ Mr Seymour said.
‘‘I don’t think they have seen that from the Government and they know that staying locked up from the rest of the world and borrowing money is not a sustainable solution — it’s a comfortable solution but its not a sustainable solution.
‘‘I think the winner of this election will be the party that can show a clear plan to recover, keep people’s jobs, and ideally grow out a bit and ultimately pay for the considerable amount of debt that is being stacked up.’’
❛ We poll for the reasons why people support Act and certainly poor performance by National is the third or fourth most popular reason. The popular reasons are speaking sense, like the policies, think the party holds them all accountable: those are the things that show up, so clearly some of the support is because of National,
but less than people might think