Act Party leader David Seymour (left) and National Party leader Christopher Luxon. Photos / George Heard, Alex Burton
Act Party leader David Seymour (left) and National Party leader Christopher Luxon. Photos / George Heard, Alex Burton
The election is over, but coalition talks means it will still be some time before we get a full understanding of the policies that will define the next Government.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon and Act’s David Seymour will ultimately be integral in terms of determining what path the Government will take and what will be prioritised.
In a special edition of The Front Page podcast, we look back at our interviews with these two party leaders to get a sense of what they stand for and how they’d like to see Aotearoa change after the six-year tenure of the Labour Government.
“If they’re not prepared to make that agreement, we will make them", said David Seymour in June. Photo / Alex Cairns
During the election campaign, Seymour caused a stir by suggesting that the Act Party would deliver confidence but not supply, which would mean throwing their support behind National but not joining in a formal government arrangement that would require being bound by collective responsibility.
That was something he suggested to The Front Page back in June, telling the podcast he was not “interested in the baubles”, saying he was not keen to “fight Labour and then babysit their policies” and wanted a strong commitment to change throughout the country.
“I don’t think being a minister in the New Zealand Government is a particularly laudable achievement. It’s an opportunity to do good, and if we don’t have a coalition agreement where the Government is prepared to do worthwhile policy reform, then we certainly don’t want Act ministers there apologising for bad National Party policies,” Seymour said.
“If they’re not prepared to make that agreement, we will make them Government, but we’ll also sit on the crossbenches and negotiate everything vote by vote.
“That would be a painful situation for both parties, but we’re prepared to do it as a backstop to these guys thinking they can ignore us.”
Christopher Luxon told The Front Page that he was keen to see more bipartisanship in policymaking, particularly around taking a longer-term view on infrastructure. Photo / George Heard
While that is a challenge for Luxon to overcome during negotiations, he may find support across Parliament for other projects. He told The Front Page that he was keen to see more bipartisanship in policymaking, particularly around taking a longer-term view on infrastructure.
“[US President John F.] Kennedy said, let’s go to the moon and had the idea and people landed on the moon in nine and a half years,” Luxon said.
“So why does it take us longer than that to build a central interceptor in Auckland? Why has it taken 24 years to build an Eastern Busway that’s 6.5 kilometres? We’ve got a problem with the second [Auckland] Harbour Crossing where the bridge is maxed out to capacity, and yet we haven’t got a second Harbour Crossing in place.
“I think all of that needs a lot of serious reimagining because the infrastructure investment is really critical.”
Listen to the full episode ofThe Front Page to hear more from the two politicians on mental health, targeted policies, The Treaty of Waitangi, and taxes.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.
