Election 2023: Down on polls, MP unaware of Te Matatini, but Act leader David Seymour still confident ahead of election

Political polls continue to show different results as the election nears. And despite being on a string of ups, the Act Party has hit a down in the polls, according to the latest Newshub Reid Research Poll released earlier this week.

Christopher Luxon’s preferred coalition partner dropped to single digits from 10.1 per cent to 8.8 per cent.

It means Act and National would only be able to secure around 60 seats, needing New Zealand First to return to Parliament to get across the line.

Act leader David Seymour isn’t worried about the poll result and is confident that an Act-National alliance is still possible.

“New Zealand faces serious challenges it needs to overcome, and the only viable way to overcome them is a stable and united Act-National government, with those two parties bringing slightly different things to the table but ultimately working together for a better New Zealand.”

Something that Seymour has advocated for during his campaign is having a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi for a more inclusive Aotearoa, while also saying that splitting into tangata tiriti and tangata whenua is wrong.

“Even if you have people saying ‘I know more of what the Treaty means’, I just ask people to think about the consequences.

“Where is the example of a successful country that has had two categories of people based on birth? I can’t find one but it’s not difficult to find examples of countries that have been disastrous as a result of such deliberate division of people.”

Seymour also didn’t provide an example of a country where it hasn’t worked.

Elsewhere, during TVNZ’s Kaupapa Māori Debate on Tuesday, Act MP Karen Chhour was confused when asked about Te Matatini funding, saying she didn’t know what Te Matatini was.

Having only just received new funding from this year’s budget, Seymour, who called Te Matatini “the big festival that occurred at Eden Park”, says spending has to be restricted - and hasn’t ruled out cutting back on Te Matatini funding or anywhere in arts and culture.

“Clearly, Te Matatini is very successful. I just also make the argument that, like a lot of things getting government money, people have this strange contradiction that [Te Matatini] is good and the government should fund it. I would argue that if it is so good, maybe it shouldn’t need government funding.”