ACT list prompts deputy leader to resign
ACT has unveiled its party list for the 2017 election but the announcement has been overshadowed by the resignation of deputy leader Kenneth Wang.
Leader David Seymour said Wang, who has been deputy since 2014, had effectively given an ultimatum that he should be given the number two slot or not stand at all.
The board had unanimously felt Beth Houlbrooke was a better candidate for the number two slot. She would now become the deputy leader, Seymour said.
‘‘Ultimately you have to either be a team player or not play at all.’’ Party President Ruwan Premathilaka said the list, headed by leader and Epsom MP David Seymour, displayed the renewal of the party over the past three years.
‘‘Our candidates showcase talent, youth, and diversity. They are committed to ACT’s values of freedom and personal responsibility.’’
Candidates would campaign across the country for the party vote. ‘‘We are very happy with it.
‘‘We said: would these people promote ACT’s objectives, are they likeable, are they articulate, have they done interesting and useful things to prepare them for Parliament? And that’s who we came up with.’’ The top six on the list are: 1 Seymour, 2 Rodney local board chair Houlbrooke; 3 Auckland PR consultant Brooke van Velden; 4 real estate agent and former professional cricketer Bhupinder Singh; 5 supermarket manager Stephen Berry; 6 Tauranga investor Stuart Pedersen.
Seymour said the top 10 included only two from the 2014 list (Houlbrooke and Berry) and had an average age of 37 with an even split of men and women. Collectively they spoke seven different languages.
Only the top 19 on the list of 41 are ranked.
Wang said he felt ACT held different priorities now to when he joined the party in 2002.
‘‘In 2002, ACT was strongly adapting to new New Zealanders, Asians and Chinese, and I don’t think that today the ACT Party is as tough as it was before.’’
Seymour said Wang last Saturday was pitching to go back to Parliament in front of the board and had not mentioned the direction of the party.
Wang came to New Zealand in 1986, graduated from Auckland University with a masters degree in fine arts in 1988 and began working in graphic design and advertising. He has been the president of the New Zealand Association of Asian-owned Small Businesses, a founding member of the Chinese Conservation Education Trust and was involved in fundraising efforts for the Asian Tsunami Relief Fund.