Can we please stop pretending that ACT is a political party

Written By: - Date published: 6:49 am, October 10th, 2017 - 35 comments
Categories: act, useless - Tags: ,

From the realms of political fantasy – David Seymour says Winston Peters will become prime minister. The reckons of Seymour are as bizarre as ever, don’t waste your time. But one thing did catch my eye –

On Monday, the ACT Party leader, who is the only member of his party to gain a seat in Parliament, released a rundown of the campaign, the election, and the country’s next steps from his perspective.

Can we please stop pretending that ACT is a political party? Seriously. It’s time. David Seymour is an electoral rort wrought by the Nats to try and game MMP for an extra vote. End of story.

ACT was a political party once, but it died a long time ago.

35 comments on “Can we please stop pretending that ACT is a political party ”

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  1. Thinkerr 1
    10 October 2017 at 7:25 am

    According to its name, it is an Associaction and the Association is the party.

    But, then, it would be, wouldnt it? Given its policies lean to everything and everyone being part of some kind of market transaction…

  2. Enough is Enough 2
    10 October 2017 at 8:00 am

    If the Nats miss out this week I think it will come back.

    There is still a solid core of Elitists who want to see small government, flat tax and work for the dole. They have voted for National to keep the right in power.

    But when National leaves you will see a resurgence on the hard right

    • tc 2.1
      10 October 2017 at 9:00 am

      It is the hard right, the resurgence was marked in the Hollowmen documentary with Karl Roves tactics being employed against Clark amongst other specific incidents.

      Key’s elevation to the leader formalised it and they had to hide the current face of it (Bennett) from view during the campaign lest people remember.

      People need to stop deluding themselves about national having any form of social conscience after Pike River, State housing sales, fighting against fair pay for caregivers etc etc they are 100% pure hard right and a tool of the corporatocracy.

      ACT is simply a subsidary gifted a seat to game MMP and cling to power.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.1
        10 October 2017 at 10:35 am

        People need to stop deluding themselves about national having any form of social conscience after Pike River, State housing sales, fighting against fair pay for caregivers etc etc they are 100% pure hard right and a tool of the corporatocracy.

        QFT

        National is the party that will bring about the collapse of our society due to the greed of their supporters.

      • Gareth 2.1.2
        10 October 2017 at 7:37 pm

        That’s not true to say that ACT is simply a subsidiary gifted a seat.

        I have no love for ACT, but if we dropped the coat-tails rule and lowered the 5% threshold to the level required for 1 MP, ACT would still have David Seymour in Parliament solely on their party vote.

        if you’re curious, under those rules of basically 10,800 votes per MP, the seat allocation based solely on the party vote would have been 53 National, 44 Labour, 9 NZ First, 8 Greens, 3 TOP, 1 Maori Party, 1 ACT.

        • Andre 2.1.2.1
          10 October 2017 at 8:17 pm

          That is an oddity of allocating seats according to the pure Sainte-Lague method, where only 1/240 of the vote is needed for a party’s first seat, then 3/240 for the second, 5/240 for the third etc.

          That’s why other methods have their advocates, such as d’Hondt or modified Sainte Lague. Which require that a party get closer to a full seat’s worth of votes before they get a seat.

          However, in this particular election, had either of those methods been used, ACT would now have an overhang seat, which would mean the Nats get a total freebie seat, but also Labour would have picked up the allocated seat ACT wouldn’t have got.

  3. savenz 3
    10 October 2017 at 9:24 am

    Act is a government aided trougher gaining 100,000’s of public money while the attention seeking leader plies his book and keeps a desperate government in power.

    • WILD KATIPO 3.1
      10 October 2017 at 10:35 am

      Oh the irony… troughers… from the party that used to use the excuse ‘ government waste’ to con the population , now on life support and cannot even win its only seat (Rimmers , of course ) without a handout deal from National.

      Party ? – Rimmers more or less an independent now.

      There aint no ACT ‘party ‘. A ‘party’ implies at least plural – not singular. Its the same sort of fraud United Future became for years.

      So that tells us all what the public REALLY thinks about Roger Douglas’s free market ‘ reforms’ – so why are we still putting up with and enduring the same sort of bullshit being delivered to us from National?

      This whole far right crap thing is a fraud.

      And we are bloody paying for it.

      • tuppence shrewsbury 3.1.1
        10 October 2017 at 5:45 pm

        lol. I remember when you cried into your keyboard at TDB after the last election when Mana couldn’t get a sweetheart deal and found themselves on the out

        • WILD KATIPO 3.1.1.1
          10 October 2017 at 6:41 pm

          Ha ! – I wanted them to cross the big 5% – as for getting a sweetheart deal didn’t enter into it. What I was annoyed at was the beat up on Hawera . And I’m still pretty miffed at it.

          And PS : There’s more than enough evidence there was collusion against Kim Dotcom. Here’s your ‘National party’ for you in full swing Dirty Politics…

          Enjoy.

          Dissecting the GCSB bill – Campbell Live (Kim Dotcom scandal …
          Video for Dissecting the GCSB bill – Campbell Live (Kim Dotcom scandal)▶ 16:11

  4. Rae 4
    10 October 2017 at 10:15 am

    If David Seymour wasn’t such a clown, he too, would be a goner long ago. I think we keep him around for entertainment value, we wait with bated breath for his next inappropriate expletive. We no longer have Te Ururoa or Marama Fox around to burst into song from time to time to lighten the show up a bit. The chambers may be quite dull this term.

  5. The Pink Postman 5
    10 October 2017 at 11:30 am

    and dont forget the traitorous bastard Prebble who still speaks his Right-wing rubbish on the political TV shows.
    Last weeks Nation was an example of his anti -Labour spill.

    • Bob 5.1
      10 October 2017 at 11:39 am

      Prebble looked very angry and ill, his bitterness shines thru in every word he speaks, he is truely a vile person. I wonder if he’s booked his Plot beside Muldoon?
      Off with his head !

      • WILD KATIPO 5.1.1
        10 October 2017 at 11:49 am

        Ha!- at least Muldoon believed in the welfare state cradle to grave thing and endorsed Keynesian economics !

        Unlike Prebble who endorsed treachery , elitism , creating a poverty class and neo liberalism.

        Chalk and cheese , really – one being an old time conservative ( which I personally don’t have a problem with ) – the other just being an outright treacherous subversive .

      • tc 5.1.2
        10 October 2017 at 2:03 pm

        Prebble belongs next to the crooks his party was stacked with like Garrett, Banksy, Rortney etc

        He’s more than likely jealous he didn’t do as good a job of asset stripping as shonky did.

        • savenz 5.1.2.1
          10 October 2017 at 2:22 pm

          +1 TC

        • Melanie Scott 5.1.2.2
          10 October 2017 at 3:03 pm

          He reminds me of Bannon a bit – a right wing anarchist, though possibly without the odour of uranium on his breath.

        • Anne 5.1.2.3
          10 October 2017 at 3:04 pm

          He’s full of hatred and revenge for Labour. Can’t see that he brought his demise in that party upon himself. Rather sad in a way.

          • tc 5.1.2.3.1
            10 October 2017 at 4:12 pm

            Labour has a track record in spawning parties that go on to undermine it.

            ACT, United Future, Maori Party…..I see that potential in the current mob as the party never deals with leaks and internal dissent . DC would probably agree.

    • veutoviper 5.2
      10 October 2017 at 2:31 pm

      Not just on TV Shows! This has appeared in the Herald online in the last hour or so.
      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931472

      Basically telling English to ring Ardern; form an interim Grand Coalition; cut out the small parties including NZF; repeal MMP and return to FPP; then have a new election.
      Yeah right, that is really going to happen – not.

      OTOH, very sensible advice from Steve Maharay to Jacinda Ardern – it is all about relationships and ability to work together. Also on the Herald website

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11931401

      • happynz 5.2.1
        10 October 2017 at 6:21 pm

        Good grief. That Prebble piece pegged the patriarchal-authoritarian meter. Sheesh.

        • veutoviper 5.2.1.1
          10 October 2017 at 8:31 pm

          LOL! Exactly. But I must say, as a female …. nothing is quite as bad as a similar matriarchal response … Have to say, I find the latter more intense than the patriarchal one to handle.

  6. rod 6
    10 October 2017 at 2:54 pm

    I always thought that ACT meant, All C—-S Together party.

    • WILD KATIPO 6.1
      10 October 2017 at 3:29 pm

      Well , whatever they along with their one man band think they stand for , – they should really change that acronym to JOKE ;

      Jumble of Outdated Kleptomaniac Enthusiasts.

      It would be far more in keeping with what the public really think they are and at least would be descriptive for the kinds of things they endorsed back in the 1990’s and 1980’s.

    • Stuart Munro 6.2
      10 October 2017 at 5:37 pm

      Advocacy for Corporate Tax-evaders.

  7. Ed 7
    10 October 2017 at 4:25 pm

    Can we please stop giving ACT spokespeople so much airtime given the fact they got 13,075 votes.

    Seymour gets a platform on the Panel today.
    Prebble gets an article in the Herald.

    0.5%.

    Ignore them.

  8. feijoa 8
    10 October 2017 at 5:22 pm

    ACT only have 2 policies
    THE MARKET will fix everything
    INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY will fix everything else
    or something