Act party donations drive nets almost $1 million from rich listers – New Zealand Herald

Politics

12 Mar, 2022 04:00 PM3 minutes to read

Act leader David Seymour will declare nearly $1m in donations from wealthy New Zealanders. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Act will declare $850,000 of donations on Monday from some of the wealthiest New Zealanders, including a $100,000 donation from billionaire Graeme Hart, who tops the rich list.

Act leader David Seymour says the donations are part of a drive by the Act party which has raised almost $1 million. The remaining roughly $150,000 has come from smaller donations, which do not have to have their donors declared.

Alongside Hart, the big donors are Rod Drury, Craig Turner, Graham Edwards, Dame Jenny Gibbs, Murray Chandler, and John Harman, who donated $100,000 each.

Stephen Jennings, Grant Baker, and Mike Thorburn donated $50,000 each.

Seymour said the donations were from people who were not "particularly political", and he did not know conclusively whether any of the names on the list were Act party members.

He said the donors were "worried about two things: the state of democracy, the rushed legislation and the uncertainty it creates; and the policy direction which they see as being anti-aspirational and I think the reason they have connected that with Act is they want to see meaningful change in New Zealand".

Seymour said current polling showed that the Government could change at the next election, which made it increasingly likely Act would have a role in the next Government.

"I think the Government will change and recent polls have shown that's more and more likely - the question is change to what? That's where Act comes in," Seymour said.

Seymour said he'd been bringing the donations together for a couple of months.

"A lot of these people - and I've been talking to them a lot in the last month or two while we've been bringing this together - their view is usually a long-term view.

"They say, 'we're very concerned about the current Government, but we're also concerned about New Zealand's long-term direction, and after 90 years of Labour and National, maybe it's time to ask how do we make sure we get the values that make New Zealand a prosperous country cemented in a more serious way'," Seymour said.

Seymour has recently booked large donations from Troy Bowker and Mark Wyborn.

Political parties must declare the names of donors when they donate more than $15,000 to a party in a year. The donation must be declared within 10 working days if it is more than $30,000.

Under those rules, Act will need to declare the names of its 10 large donors on Monday.

Seymour said the large donations were not the end of the party's donations drive.

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Act party donations drive nets almost $1 million from rich listers - New Zealand Herald