ACT Party leader David Seymour visited Tauranga last week. Photo / File
ACT Party leader David Seymour visited Tauranga last week. Photo / File
Nearly 10 months after his death in a tragic sailing accident, former Tauranga Act candidate Stuart Pedersen has been remembered by his party leader.
David Seymour visited Tauranga on Thursday, hosting a town hall meeting with candidates Cameron Luxton for Tauranga, Bruce Carley for the Bay of Plentyand Pete Kirkwood for Rotorua.
The party's list came out yesterday, placing Carley at number 15 and Luxton at 16. Kirkwood was not ranked.
On current polling, Seymour would be joined by two or three more Act MPs in Parliament.
Seymour told the Bay of Plenty Times Pedersen could have been one of them.
Stuart Pedersen died in a sailing accident in October. Photo / File
"If you look at that poll [One News Colmar Brunton on Thursday], Stu might have ended up on our list and I think it is very likely we would have taken him to Parliament.
"He would have been a very, very good MP."
Seymour said the focus of most of the party's candidates around New Zealand would be raising Act's party vote.
"We have over 50 candidates now around the country. Will all of them get elected? No, they won't. Is it an incredibly admirable thing to stand up for your party and ultimately New Zealand democracy the way they are? Yes, it is."
He said they would be out and about in the community knocking on doors, at public meetings and talking about the party's point of view.
Seymour said he expected Covid-19 to dominate the election.
He said eventually the virus would pass and in the long run the discussion would be about productivity.
"The question is, how do you expect big productive business to invest in New Zealand, when the tax rates in Singapore are half what they are here? And when so much of our lives is caught up in compliance because politicians regulate at the drop of a hat?
"Productivity is a much more long-term, difficult challenge than at the moment."
ACT Party candidates Cameron Luxton for Tauranga and Bruce Carley for the Bay of Plenty, with party leader David Seymour. Photo / George Novak
He said the Bay of Plenty was well-placed to attract new businesses.
"You've already got probably the most natural advantages. You've got space [and] sunshine."
Asked whether Tauranga - which developers claim, and the council has confirmed, is fast running out of land - did have space, he said: "Well you do, you're just not allowed to use it. That's the problem, right? I flew in here, I can promise you you've got space, but under the RMA [Resource Management Act] you'll never be allowed to develop it."
He said issues with the RMA were contributing to Tauranga's "extraordinary" house prices, and a complete overhaul of the legislation was needed.
