David Seymour

ACT leader David Seymour tells Guyon how it feels being part of the coalition Government, what race-based policies he'd like to change, and whether we can really afford tax cuts.

Watch the video version of the episode here

Just a few years back, ACT's David Seymour led a party of one. Now he's one of New Zealand's most powerful, influential and controversial politicians. And he's destined to be Deputy Prime Minister next year.

ACT aims to continue the unfinished business of right-wing economic reforms started in the mid 1980s, but is David Seymour's agenda a recipe for increased prosperity, or increased inequality?

Guyon Espiner sat down for a frank and honest discussion with David Seymour about finally being at the decision-making table with Christopher Luxon and political rival Winston Peters.

"I've always seen politics as a very hot contest, I think it's extremely collegial, for a couple of reasons. You've got three parties that want this government to be a success - their success is tied to the success of the government.

But putting aside the politics, I think there's also the fact that people know that we're in one of those periods which is make or break for New Zealand. We don't have that sort of shared sense of purpose. People talk about division and lack of trust, and the institutions that they don't trust as much There's been a lot of talk around the media, but I don't think it's just the media. It's also government. It's almost everybody, really. People don't trust each other as much."

"Related to that is the lack of social mobility. Once upon a time, the incentive was to go to school, work hard, get a job, save some money, put it aside, maybe invest it carefully, and buy a house. Now there's a whole generation of people saying, well, hang on, I did all that stuff. But now I'm coming out as a graduate, I might be earning $50,000, I might have a student loan that's pretty close to that. And to buy anything that looks vaguely like the house my parents had, I'm looking at a million dollars. I've got to save four times my income for a deposit."

How do you rate the quality of the public service?

"Extremely variable. There are people in there who are very capable, and extremely committed. In some areas, I've been blown away by the quality of the advice that we've had."

"In other areas, I think it's fair to say that...we haven't really seen the quality of advice coming through, and it's been faster to do it ourselves. …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details