Act leader David Seymour with some of his party's candidates. Photo / George Novak
Act leader David Seymour with some of his party's candidates. Photo / George Novak
Forty-one people met in a conference room in a 25,000 person stadium at golden hour in Hamilton.
The two with dictaphones are from the media while eight are candidates for the Act Party.
And five of those are likely to be MPs in just four days.
As the evening sunstreamed through the windows making many in the small audience squint, Act leader David Seymour told the Hamilton public meeting he was there to introduce his probable new colleagues.
"Who are these people coming in … if the polls are accurate?"
Last week's 1 News Colmar Brunton poll put Act on 8 per cent which would give it 11 seats in Parliament after six years of Seymour being the party's sole MP thanks to their deal with the National party to give him the Epsom electorate.
The most MPs Act has ever got into Parliament since it first stood for election in 1996 is nine.
First to introduce themselves to the Hamilton audience on Tuesday night was Number 7 on their list, Karen Chhour, who Seymour dubbed "Double O Seven".
She spoke of her rough childhood and how she wanted to get into Parliament to "see what is going on" about why children aren't being as well protected as they should be.
Act leader David Seymour speaking at a public meeting in Hamilton. Photo / Amelia Wade
"Double 0 six", James McDowell, followed but kept his speech "short and unremarkable" because as the party's Waikato candidate he hoped most in the crowd knew who he was.
Their Number 5, Simon Court, then introduced himself before Act's deputy leader Brooke Van Velden.
"Unlike a lot of people in her generation," said Seymour introducing her, "she doesn't want to be a socialist and has been immunised by an economics degree."
A member of the audience wanted to know how Act would use the 11 MPs current polls have projected might get into Parliament at the election.
Seymour said there were two scenarios – the first was Act and National got to 61 seats and they'd sit down on Monday and negotiate a deal to become a Government.
The second scenario, which he dedicated a lot more time to detailing, saw them in Parliament but in Opposition.
"If that happens, I'm very sorry. We tried but all is not lost."
Having 11 Act MPs would mean one in 12 in Parliament was from their party which would give them more seats on select committees asking questions about laws being made and they'd have more questions in the House, said Seymour.
"What people don't realise is under the allocation of one MP for the last six years I get to ask one question every eight sitting days.
"If we get our current polling we'll be getting an Act MP asking a question with like five follow-ups every day."
Others in the crowd wanted to know what Act wanted to do about income inequality, how they'd get back automatic rifles and why New Zealand was paying $1.4 billion to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
"We don't pay $1.4 billion to the IPCC … there's no such payment as that," said Seymour.
Another woman congratulated Seymour for his calls to bring more people into New Zealand to help struggling businesses. He thanked her and told the crowd he didn't even pay her.
Act candidate Simon Court (right) sells party t-shirts. Photo / Amelia Wade
After telling a story about the bureaucracy at the Ministry of Education, Seymour wrapped up because he had to get back to Auckland ahead of an early morning television interview but not before asking the audience to help Act buy more digital ads.
"You think the Labour party is good at taking your money – you ain't seen nothing yet. We have a mobile eftpos machine with payWave. We can take your money without even touching you.
