Opportunity and ACT parties make Taranaki campaign stops

Friday, 24 July 2026

New Plymouth became a political battleground on Thursday as two parties hoping to influence the make-up of the next Government campaigned in the city.

ACT leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour visited on the same day as The Opportunity Party deputy leader Dan Eb, who was joined by the party’s New Plymouth candidate Sarah Lucas.

The trio were then involved in a public debate with Labour’s Deborah Russell and New Plymouth MP David MacLeod at the Plymouth Hotel on Thursday night.

Eb’s visit came as recent polling showed growing support for The Opportunity Party, with a 1News Verian poll placed it at 4.6% and a Roy Morgan poll had put it at 6.5%, above the 5% threshold needed to enter Parliament.

While ACT had long-cemented itself on the political right, Opportunity continued to pitch itself as a centrist alternative.

“We will not indicate a preference for either left or right blocs. That’s just not what New Zealand needs,” Eb said.

During the visit, Eb, who had a background in communication and agriculture based in Kaipara, and Lucas met with Te Puna Umanga Venture Taranaki, the Taranaki Applied Innovation Centre before they held a public meeting on Wednesday night.

He said Taranaki was a “mirror” of the broader changes New Zealand faced, with its transition from oil and gas to emerging industries to provide a blueprint for the country’s future.

He highlighted Venture Taranaki’s work supporting innovation, hemp-based manufacturing at the innovation centre and iwi-led economic development as examples of the region already building its next economy.

Eb said Opportunity opposed both Labour’s blanket exploration ban and the Coalition’s focus on expanding oil and gas and argued the debate had become a distraction.

Instead, he said Taranaki should use its existing infrastructure and skilled workforce the develop new industries and warned oil and gas declining and the region needed to focus on “what comes next“.

Lucas, who ran for the New Plymouth mayoralty at last year’s local body elections, said Taranaki was already living through its economic transition.

'We've been talking about transition for 15 years. We're in it now, let's get boots on the ground and let the community actually do what needs to be done,' she said.

Meanwhile, Seymour addressed about 200 supporters at the New Plymouth Club, where he outlined ACT’s ongoing bugbears of reducing red tape, shrinking the size of government and creating a more business-friendly environment.

Seymour, who was flanked by two parliamentary security staff, was met by a handful of Free Palestine protesters on Gill St.

Speaking to media after his more than an hour-long session, Seymour said while rural Taranaki was benefiting from strong commodity prices, its wider economy still faced unnecessary barriers to growth.

“We have been infected by a disease of stupid rules and processology, and until we get on top of that, we’re going to leave a lot of our potential at the doorstep,” he said.

On energy, Seymour rejected suggestions renewable industries could simply replace oil and gas and urged the 2018 exploration ban had created long-term uncertainty for investors.

While he supported further oil and gas exploration, he questioned New Zealand First’s proposal for taxpayer-funded exploration.

He said the focus should instead be on stable regulation, infrastructure and education to encourage private investment.