Judith Collins has tried to dismiss Act's resurgence, saying "they have two jobs: one is to win Epsom and the other is to take out the rest of the New Zealand First vote."
If only. While Act has benefited from electoral accommodations in Epsom, Seymour is more popular in Epsom than National is.
Act has already feasted off NZ First's vote, starting with its lonely opposition to firearms law reform in 2019. There is little flesh left to strip from the carcass of NZ First's support.
Seymour has been criticised for courting the firearms lobby, and for holding an orthodox line on freedom of speech, but these positions are entirely consistent with Seymour's long-held principles of personal freedom, just as his support for end of life choice is.
He is also free — and able — to speak much more plainly and directly about these issues while National vacillates around the centre — or, for that matter, Ardern, who refuses to say which way she will vote in the cannabis referendum.
As his Epsom neighbour Paul Goldsmith trips and falls from the highwire act of balancing borrowing and spending in his own alternative budget, Seymour simply says we can't afford this. While Collins seemed to think through her statement on hate speech laws out loud, Seymour stared down the camera and said "the last thing New Zealand needs is a government department deciding what you can and can't say".
Ben Thomas is a PR consultant and former National government press secretary. He worked on a short term contract with Act during the 2017 campaign.
