He said, “If Jesus comes back and says I want to stand for Auckland [or] for mayor of Wellington, we might say ‘buddy, with that hair and beard, how could we not endorse you’.”
When asked if the man himself would support Act, Seymour chuckled and said, “You know what, I believe that Jesus very well might support Act from what I know about him.
“Jesus believes that each person had inherent dignity,” Seymour said, adding he believed people deserve to be treated with universal human rights.
“In many respects, the underlying teachings of Jesus and the Act Party overlap,” the Act leader said at a press conference on the party’s local government announcement.
The party suggests it’s “time for a clean-out” with respect to local councils, as it announced its bid to support and stand candidates in the upcoming local elections.
It’s seen to be an “exploratory campaign” to gauge where interest lies.
On not supporting mayoral candidates, Seymour said the party needed to be “realistic”.
He stated people needed to “show what you can deliver before you try and take on big prizes” – like a mayoralty.
“Start with people that can get around the council, learn the skills and then work their way up,” he said.
Seymour has previously suggested Kate Sheppard and some of the rangatira who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi would have been Act voters.
“But I just want to be clear, the Act Party is not promising to disinter Guy Fawkes, Jesus or any historical figure to stand for mayor, council or any other position,” Seymour clarified in his press conference in Wellington today.
Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s Press Gallery. She joined NZME in 2022, becoming a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.
