He said there was a lot of negotiating going on but the pair had made “really good progress”. It was “collaborative and constructive”.
“We have had to talk a lot about policy, but we have also got to have a Government formed and that involves people having to do jobs that align with the policy goals of the Government as well as their own skills and passions so they can deliver for people.”
Seymour said the meeting focused on “the shape of the Government” rather than policy.
He wouldn’t say what ministerial roles ACT was after or how many ministers ACT would have.
“To be honest, I could start giving really excruciating detail, but I know if I did that, you would just start asking more questions. I know how you operate at Newshub. You are just newshounds.”
But he did say proportionality was important to democracy and a “fair way to do things”. ACT having more ministers than New Zealand First would be the result of proportionality, he said.
“I am not talking about the negotiations or where they are up to. I am just making some observations from an ACT Party point of view that we think that maths matters and the people’s votes should be represented in some sort of proportional way.”
He wouldn’t say whether it was possible for a Government deal to be struck on Wednesday.
“I think it is always possible we are going to get a deal tomorrow, but I feel bad for having said that quite a few times in the last five weeks so I won’t say it today.”
But he “absolutely” thinks it will be this week.
Seymour said he didn’t have plans to meet with Peters on Tuesday, but said some meetings have come about with just an hour’s notice. He said ACT was always ready to meet or pick up the phone.
“We are in a really good space. We are just dotting ‘i’s and crossing ‘t’s on things like that.”
Peters visited ACT’s offices in Auckland on Monday afternoon with his staffer Darroch Ball. He was inside for roughly an hour.
Upon exiting, Newshub asked Peters what he had been working on with ACT.
“We are working on getting a coalition together,” he said.
