Making David Seymour a Minister in the third-term National Government is wrong.

He is only in Parliament because John Key and National gave him the nod in Epsom. If National wanted to win the seat, he would not be there; he was gifted the seat.

Now the PM says he intends to fast-track him as a Minister, because it will give Seymour and ACT more resources. That is not a valid reason to promote someone into the Ministry; it must be deserved.

To me, Seymour is a novice. He is young and heading to Parliament as ACT’s sole MP. That will be hard enough. He needs to breathe through his nose for the next three years and his focus should be to rebuild his broken party.

Being a Minister is about judgement, handling the media, dealing with officials and all the scrutiny that goes with it. This is a huge risk and he doesn’t deserve it. Not yet.

If ACT had four or five MPs and had truly earned its place in Parliament, then, sure, give them a Ministerial spot. But Key doesn’t even need ACT to govern. Seymour is unproven as an MP – this promotion is a joke.

Yes, Seymour might be smart and yes he might be hungry, but that doesn’t make it right.

Duncan Garner hosts RadioLIVE Drives - weekdays from 3pm - news and all the political talk, as it happens

AUDIO: David Seymour outlines his parliamentary qualifications to Sean Plunket

source: data archive