Act leader David Seymour will be holding a public meeting in Hastings on Saturday night. Photo / Alex Cairns
Act leader David Seymour will be holding a public meeting in Hastings on Saturday night. Photo / Alex Cairns
Act leader David Seymour won’t say exactly how strongly the party is polling in Hawke’s Bay.
But it’s well enough that he’ll spend the final weekend before the general election campaigning in Hastings.
Seymour is holding a public meeting at No.5 Cafe & Larder in Mangateretere on Saturdaynight, before a two-hour meet-and-greet at the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market at Tomoana Showgrounds.
“Certainly the polling I’ve seen would suggest that the Bay is one of Act’s best regions,” Seymour said.
“Act is targeting the party vote, rather than the electorate vote. We’re not trying to decide who the next MP for Tukituki or Napier is, but we are very interested in people right across the Bay - regardless of their electorate - giving their party vote to Act.”
Another flying visit to Hawke's Bay is on the cards for David Seymour. Photo / Mike Scott
Nationally, the latest 1News Verrian poll has Act at 10 per cent. Seymour believes Act’s support in Hawke’s Bay is significantly higher than that. He’s even had Hawke’s Bay businessman Sean Colgan lend him his plane for some of the campaign to help him get around.
“I think it’s because people in the Bay, first of all, are people who are typically there to make a difference in their own lives at quite a practical level,” said Seymour.
“So horticulture, for example, you’re making a living off the land and, as we’ve seen quite tragically this year, you really do have to make a difference in your own life.
“What you do really counts and if you see a whole lot of your money taken off in tax or you see a whole lot of rules and regulations constraining what you can do or if you see a whole lot of really low-quality infrastructure, then that can really harm you.
“So you care about the quality of government services in a way where, if you’re just drifting along, you might not.
“I also think people in the Bay have been affected by crime. It was in Hawke’s Bay that the Government was actually paying the gangs [drug rehabilitation funding] and I think a party that is prepared to stand up against this kind of free reign that’s been given to criminals by Labour is going to have some appeal.”
If there’s one message he hopes will resonate with Hawke’s Bay voters, it’s of self-determination.
“New Zealand should be a place where any person can make a difference in their own lives. It doesn’t matter your background and if you’ve been here 15 generations or one, you have the right to make a difference in your own life without discrimination.”
But that kind of rhetoric doesn’t appeal to everyone. Seymour has been accused of “race baiting” during the campaign and came in for strong criticism from Dame Naida Glavish on RNZ this week.
Seymour says he’s received a “warm welcome” each time he’s visited Hawke’s Bay in recent months and expects the same this weekend.
Hamish Bidwell joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2022 and works out of the Hastings newsroom.
