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David Seymour’s search for love

David tells us he'd be the perfect husband!
Robert Trathen

He’s still on a high from his 2020 successes – the End of Life Choice Act was given the nod in the referendum and the ACT Party increased its influence with nine new MPs. But David Seymour says he’d give up politics in a heartbeat for the love of a good woman and the chance to start a family.

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“We all hope to find a real connection and while I’ve been lucky to have dated some extremely brilliant and beautiful women, being effectively married to Parliament gets in the way a bit,” the 37-year-old tells the Weekly.

“If there was a magic wand that replaced politics with family, I’d wave it. If there’s no fairytale, I guess I’ll just have to hustle. In fact, if I could put out an ad for myself, I’d say I’d make a great stay-at home dad because I don’t feel the need to prove myself. I made a career that I’m proud of early on and I would happily stay home to look after the children.”

David adds – just in case there are any interested parties – that he’s a good cook, likes animals and is a great communicator. He once built a sports car from scratch.

“And I was a Kidsliner, volunteering as a telephone counsellor for children when I was younger,” he reveals. “One of the main things they taught us was listening skills.”

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His dance moves failed to impress on Dancing with the Stars, but his baking skills should raise lots of interest!

If the former engineer doesn’t find love, though, he will happily stay in politics. While 2020 was a rollercoaster year for many politicians, it was a triumphant time for David, with some commentors calling him the stand-out politician of the year. “Amazing” is how he says he still feels after Kiwis voted overwhelmingly in favour of the End of Life Choice Act that he championed.

“I was confident it would go through because it polled well all the way,” he says.

But if you think the referendum result settled a private score for David, you’d be mistaken. “I’m unusual in that I’m the only person I know [out of those who’ve tried introducing an euthanasia bill in New Zealand] who wasn’t motivated by a personal story,” he tells. “What motivated me was that I think we should be trying to become a kinder, more compassionate society, and our laws should reflect our values.

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“Lecretia Seales had very bravely put the issue on the agenda. Now was the right time to do it.”

How they rated their political future! A flashback to the 2011 Auckland Central Backbenchers’ debate between David, Nikki Kaye, Jacinda Ardern and Denise Roche.

And he was just as delighted when his party burgeoned to 10 MPs in Parliament as a result of the election. Until that point, he had been the sole ACT MP since 2014. “My next goal is to build an organisation and culture where the others can thrive,” David says. “I can only achieve so much on my own.”

While many noted that David had enjoyed a glass or two of Champagne on election night, he is keen to impress that it was the first time he had touched alcohol since swearing off it two years ago.

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“Well, I also took my dad to Th’ Dudes in December as part of my Good Son Project and they had no zero alcohol. So I had a few Heineken. The next morning, I decided that I’d made absolutely the right decision not to drink on every other day.”

It’s not that David, who lost 14kg after cutting out alcohol, believed he had a drinking problem. “I just came to the conclusion that unless people offer me Champagne, then I’m pretty much out.”

When he started saying no to booze, it was difficult to find zero alcohol in bars, he tells. “When you asked for zero, people would go, ‘No, but we’ve got light.’ Don’t people understand that no means no?! Now it’s pretty unusual to find bars that don’t serve it. The New Zealand culture is shifting very rapidly.”

Could “non-drinker, with the occasional exception of bubbles” be added to David’s ad?

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“These are all of the criteria I can come up with for now, but I think these are all kind of positives,” he says hopefully.

Karyn

David with his late mum Victoria

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