"I'm not a Grinch, I don't want to take people's holidays away."

ACT leader David Seymour's latest policy-on-the-fly comments turned into what closely resembled a scene from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, when he voiced his preference for axing almost all public holidays.

On Wednesday, the MP was asked to share his thoughts on whether Matariki should become a public holiday.

Earlier this month, Wellington Mayor Justin Lester said he supported Queen's Birthday being ditched in favour of a national Matariki holiday.

STUFF ACT leader David Seymour wouldn't add Matariki to NZ's list of public holidays, in fact he'd can most of the ones we currently have.

Seymour said he wasn't keen on including another public holiday in New Zealand's calendar.

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"If people want to use some of their annual leave for Matariki, they can."

David Seymour says he's not a grinch. Kiwis can celebrate any holiday any time they like, but they can use their annual leave, he says.

In fact, he wasn't really a fan of public holidays at all.

What came next was eerily similar to the part of the Jim Carrey film where the Grinch ransacks the houses of Whoville: "Clearance Sale! Everything must go".

Reporters listed public holidays, as Seymour listed the reasons why they should not be part of New Zealand's set calendar.

People should be able to decide when they wanted to go on holiday, Seymour said.

"I'm not into the Government telling people how to use their annual leave. What is this? A fascist state?"

One reporter asked whether New Zealand scrap all public holidays. "I'm open to it," Seymour replied.

"I think people should be able to make their own holiday arrangements. We don't need the Government to tell us when to take the day off."

Get rid of Queen's Birthday, he said - it's not even on her birthday.

Then Seymour turned his sights to the big two: Christmas and Easter.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF Wellington Mayor Justin Lester says he supports Matariki replacing Queen's Birthday weekend as a public holiday.

"The religious holidays - people can make up their own minds... it's not clear why the Government needs to tell people when to celebrate religious holidays."

"I'm not a Grinch, I don't want to take people's holidays away. I just think they should be able to celebrate them whenever they like....

"You can still have Christmas any time you want," he said.

Easter would also be on the chopping block, if Seymour had his way. But what about the eggs?

"I love Easter eggs, but you should have the freedom to consume Easter eggs at a time of your choosing, not when told to by the Government.

"You can get a delicious Creme Egg at a time of your choosing, procured on the free market, with a willing buyer and a willing seller, at a price you're prepared to pay, for a health risk you're prepared to bear."

In his public holiday-less future, Kiwis would retain minimum annual leave entitlements, which was four weeks for most people.

However, any further arrangements around days in lieu or time-and-a-half for working a day, which was previously a public holiday, would be up to the person's employer - not the Government.

But Seymour would keep Anzac Day.

"I think Anzac Day is something that all New Zealanders have in common, so you could make an exception for that."

"Anzac Day is the one day that defines us as a country, because we did fight for our freedom. If we hadn't succeeded in those wars, we'd be a very different country today. It's the one thing all New Zealanders have in common."

He could barely finish his sentence before he was questioned about his stance on Waitangi Day.

"Now you mention it, that's also quite an important day. I'd go with Waitangi and Anzac, the rest are subjective."

Meanwhile, National leader Simon Bridges said he was open to the idea of swapping an existing public holiday for Matariki.

However, he was not sure which day he would sacrifice.

"I don't think we'd want to get rid of the Queen's Birthday holiday. She's a highly respected figure in New Zealand and we're still a constitutional monarchy."

What about Labour Day?

"I'm not much into Labour, but I wouldn't be making those kinds of comments about Labour Day," Bridges said.

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