Bumpy, bumpy, bumpy. That’s how David Seymour describes 2022.
The ACT leader said the Government has had “some really big hits and misses” this year, such as the attempted entrenchment of the public ownership of Three Waters assets and the troubled RNZ-TVNZ merger.
But he reserved most of his concern for “a seriously deteriorating economic outlook” and an inflation rate that “refused to be tamed”.
As he looked to 2023, the MP for Epsom planned to expand the criteria for those seeking to die under the End Of Life Choice Act.
"I personally regret that [the] End of Life Choice Act still excludes some people who deserve to be included who won't die within six months... their suffering is often worse than people with short-term terminal conditions," the law's architect said.
He also promised a laser focus on education next year.
“You look ahead 30 years, nothing matters more today, or any day of the week, than how many kids went to school and how much they learnt.”
Seymour added: "Ultimately, no kid has committed a ram-raid while they're at school. The kids that are committing ram-raids are ones that are, almost always, frequent truants."
As for what he was looking for under the Christmas tree, Seymour hoped Santa would bring him “11%... 12” at the ballot box next year.
1News sat down with each political party leader to reflect on the year that's been. Watch the rest of the interviews in this series: Jacinda Ardern, Christopher Luxon, Marama Davidson and James Shaw, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
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