David Seymour: The election is 'entirely about the failure to create wealth over 15 years'

Sitting in an ACT Party van with leader David Seymour on an orchard in Riwaka was not on my election bucket list. 

But five minutes' drive from my mum's house in Motueka, the Deputy Prime Minister was visiting the Fairfields Orchard, run by locals Cherie and Aaron Drummond. I find him and deputy Nicole McKee in the pack house, before they went out near the expansive solar panels (a great call in sunny Motueka) to meet horticulture cadet Lexi Firth and Alfred Cocker, who came to Motueka as an RSE worker from Tonga.

(L-R) Horticulture cadet Lexi Firth, Alfred Cocker, who came to Motueka as an RSE worker from Tonga, ACT leader David Seymour, ACT deputy Nicole McKee, and Fairfields director Cherie Drummond - Anna Whyte

We head into the ACT Party van, the cupholders in the internal table lined with three (unopened) wine bottles from a previous visit in Blenheim, pink ACT Party jerseys hanging up behind Seymour's seat. 

Seymour obviously isn't new to campaigning - having successfully entered Parliament more than 10 years ago in 2014 and also having contested in elections going back to 2005. But reflecting on the 2026 election, he says there's a huge amount at stake this time around.

He pointed to productivity growth's slowdown, adding that people "feel that they're not making a lot of progress, and they're very frustrated." 

"At the same time, asset price inflation has left a lot of people feeling their future's unattainable or far away, and as a result of that, there's all sorts of solutions on the market. There's all these parties that say that some form of new tax is the answer, and what that's really code to me is look, the solution is redistribution, we're going to take from someone… and that will solve your problems," Seymour said.

"I don't think if you accept the underlying problem as productivity growth, then that's not going to help. In fact, in many cases, will hurt. And even beyond people who want extra taxes, there are people who say, well, we will wreak vengeance on this sector or that, and therefore we're going to end up with a better supermarket outcome, or a better electricity outcome, or banking outcome."

"In reality, politicians becoming a threat to business rather than a protector of all people's basic rights is going to harm the productivity growth we need. So this is an election, and in my view, it's entirely about the failure to create wealth over 15 years."

Housing

If there was a good offer of housing policies this election, Seymour said Resource Management Act reforms coming into play "are going to make an enormous difference to getting housing built and infrastructure funding and financing." 

"And [the] Building Act reform, there's a huge amount that's gone on in the last three years, [to] make it easier to build homes. Whereas, anyone that's out there saying we're going to, I don't know, tax a house or subsidise someone else into a house... that's not going to solve the underlying problem that it's too hard to build a house."

He said it was important over the next three years to make sure the resource management reforms were properly implemented.

"One of the biggest issues is that the the whole thing was supposed to be based on national policy statements, some of which weren't issued for 30 years, and every council then made up its own plan, and nothing got built," Seymour said.

"It's essential that the architects of the Resource Management Act, one of them being [ACT's] Simon Court, are back in a position of power to ensure that it's properly implemented. That's the only way you're going to get more homes built. So that's what we offer in housing, anyway."

Hung up on the overhang

In Tuesday evening's Stuff debate, both Labour leader Chris Hipkins and National leader Christopher Luxon considered exploiting an MMP overhang in Parliament was cheating.

The overhang is when additional seats are added to Parliament's 120 to accommodate extra MPs. Those extra MPs come when a party gets a larger portion of electorate seat votes compared to the amount of people who have voted for their party. 

The Post reported an ACT spokesperson said a recent advert featuring candidate Paul Henry was not encouraging vote splitting.

The Paul Henry ACT ad

"I think people have forgotten that the two votes belong to the voters, and they do two different jobs, and you should choose how you use them," Seymour said. 

"So we appeal to people that, first of all, your party vote belongs to you, and you should use it to express the values that you want for the country. If you give your party vote to ACT, you are not only helping re-elect the coalition, but you are also ensuring that it's going to have more ACT in it and go further on the things that that act's campaigning for." 

"When it comes to your electorate vote, I think people forget that a good local MP can do a lot for a community, and people are out there saying, well, it's all just a strategy. That's never been true," Seymour said.

"I wish people just voted on a strategy. Then I wouldn't have to knock on 15,000 doors or do any of the constituency work I've done for the last 12 years. But in reality, being an electorate MP is still an important job."

Not knocking Opportunity

Following reports from the Herald Seymour indicated at a public meeting in Wānaka he would rather work with the Opportunity Party than see a four party left-bloc be in power, Seymour was asked: "Would you be keen, just say it came to it…"

"No," he answered. 

Asked if that meant he wouldn't work with Opportunity or he wouldn't answer the question, Seymour said, he was "leader of the ACT Party, and if you want to talk about what our party is offering in the election, I'm very happy to talk".