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At the top of the polls, ACT leader David Seymour has made a direct call on right-wing national voters to leave the party for theirs.
At a rally in Christchurch, Seymour accused the National Party of failing to advance right-wing politics when he was last in government, apart from policies promoted by ACT.
He suggested that voters skip the “band of fake versions” and vote for the “original ACT.”
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
David Seymour tells voters
Seymour spoke after a 7% performance in the last 1 News / Colmar Brunton poll, which would give the party nine deputies.
This would be its best result since 2002 and follows nearly a decade in which the party has had only one MP, with a result of around 1 percent.
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Seymour opened his speech with an extended critique of the government’s response to Covid-19 and the government’s record, arguing that the Labor Party had failed in the goals it set for itself, such as housing and climate change.
He said the National Party was “better administrators” but “could hardly be worse” than Labor.
Seymour then took the audience through a thought experiment, in which then-Labor Prime Minister Helen Clark was in a coma between 2008 and 2017, and woke up concerned that National had undone her government’s achievements such as KiwiBank and Working For Families. Her point was that these policies, criticized by National when they were introduced, were not scrapped by National.
“If you study history, it is not surprising. National has been in power for two out of three years since 1949, but they have never reversed a Labor Policy, ”said Seymour.
Seymour praised the latest national government for enacting the Three Strikes Act, creating the Productivity Commission, introducing 90 days, and introducing charter schools, but said all of these ideas belonged to ACT.
“Let me put it this way if you’re going to see a concert or a show, do you want to see the original act or some copycat cover band?”
National leader Judith Collins told the media after the poll that she didn’t think ACT’s rise was at National’s expense, even though the party got 31 percent in the poll.
She said ACT’s job was to destroy NZ First and win Seymour’s seat in Epsom, where National generally tells his supporters to back ACT to make sure the party enters Parliament.
Seymour has rejected this argument, saying that he is getting votes from various parties.
Labor leader Jacinda Ardern has tried to link ACT to National in the minds of voters, telling reporters that questions asked about Green Party policy could also be asked of Collins about ACT policy.
Any path to Government for National would likely require an agreement or coalition with ACT.
