Act’s heir apparent Brooke van Velden calls time on politics

2026-03-24 - 16:04

Comment: When the Act Party gave journalists less than 30 minutes’ warning of what it mysteriously labelled as “an announcement regarding the upcoming election”, speculation began to run wild: was David Seymour about to announce his retirement? The party’s leader has already exceeded his self-imposed three-term limit in politics and is often at pains to reiterate his lack of desire to be a lifetime politician, telling Newsroom last year: “It’s looking at the moment like I’m going to do 15 minimum – people get less for murder.” Instead, it is Act’s deputy leader Brooke van Velden who has stolen his plan for a parole date, announcing her intention to leave politics at the November 7 election after three years as a political staffer and six years as an MP. Speaking to media in Parliament’s Legislative Council Chamber on Tuesday, Van Velden was at pains to make clear there were no nefarious events behind her departure – merely a desire to “live life” after the best part of a decade in the beltway. “Being 33, that’s a lot that I’ve packed into public service into this point of my life. I do believe that there is more that I can give in the public sector, but ultimately I also want to try other opportunities as well.” Fair enough: for all its undoubted perks, life as an MP and Cabinet minister must be somewhat claustrophobic at times, particularly in your 20s and early 30s. Yet Van Velden’s decision leaves Act with a conundrum of sorts to resolve – what will the party look like post-Seymour? That is unlikely to be a question in need of an immediate answer, with the leader confirming his intention to run for another term: “Every time you ask me, I get a little bit more committed.” But Van Velden clearly loomed as Seymour’s eventual successor, having first served a political apprenticeship in his office before being appointed as Act’s deputy leader in 2020, at which point he labelled her “the future of the party”. A somewhat stilted public speaker at the start, she has slowly but steadily improved, while picking up her leader’s ability to act as a lightning rod for public discontent via the highly controversial dismantling of the pay equity system and other workplace relations reforms. Her surprise win in the Tāmaki seat at the last election, unseating Simon O’Connor after the National Party’s six-decade stranglehold on the electorate, also gave Act another insurance policy in the event its party vote fell below 5 percent (although with Seymour holding firmly on to Epsom, and the party having stayed on the right side of the MMP threshold since 2020, such concerns are moot for the time being). Seymour has now been Act’s leader for 12 years, and the longer he stays in the role, the more likely it is that his fate and that of the party become intertwined; he need only look across the Cabinet table at Winston Peters, who has shouldered the burden of keeping New Zealand First politically relevant for more than three decades. Seymour’s long stint in the leadership – and Van Velden’s own run as his deputy – have given the party enviable stability compared with its rivals, but now its more ambitious MPs may be jostling for position before the June 21 meeting when his second in charge will be formally appointed. Courts Minister and former firearms lobbyist Nicole McKee is the obvious frontrunner, although she was coy about any ambitions when asked on Tuesday, saying only: “We have a caucus process to go through, and I would expect that every single member on the stage should put their hands up.” Indeed, McKee’s fellow Act ministers Andrew Hoggard and Karen Chhour may wish to stake their own claims, along with Todd Stephenson and Simon Court. Although Seymour suggested demographics would not play any role in the decision, political convention would suggest a woman is likely to have the edge, given the benefits of a gender-balanced ticket. Could the contest prove acrimonious? There is no evidence to suggest as much, but factions can sometimes emerge during leadership races, even with smaller parties like Act. It was not that long ago that former deputy Heather Roy was ousted after allegedly scheming to replace Rodney Hide (a claim she denied). Nor have any of Seymour’s potential deputies quite shown their leader’s knack for handling the media and charming (enough of) the public. With Van Velden waiting in the wings, a clean leadership transition in the near future seemed easy enough: now, his ‘jail term’ may have to stretch out even further.