ACT leader David Seymour has a new bill that would see 20 MPs slashed from Parliament and the number of electorates reduced to 54.

The private member's bill will be Seymour's first big move to cement a new direction for his party, following last year's poor election result.

ACT received just 13,075 party votes in the election - 0.5 per cent of the vote - with Seymour returning to Parliament alone, after winning his Epsom seat.

Since then, the party's lone MP has connected with the membership, who've expressed a desire to go back to the party's roots - focusing on less tax, less government spending, and smaller government.

Seymour announced the start to his policy plan during the party's conference in Auckland on Sunday.

JASON DORDAY/STUFF ACT party leader David Seymour's Smaller Government Bill would cut Parliament to 100 MPs.

The bill would reduce the size of Parliament to 100 (from 120), reduce the size of the executive to 20 (from 31, including ministers outside Cabinet and parliamentary under-secretaries), and reduce the number of electorates to 54 (from 71), meaning the Māori seats would be abolished.

Each prospective MP would also have to stand in an electorate - whether they were list or electorate MPs. If they lost in the electorate, they could still get into Parliament on the list, but they would have an established electorate office, and would be expected to actively help people within their electorate.

List MPs, who weren't particularly active in their local electorates "could actually do with helping a few people, coming in with real problems", Seymour said.

"It's the Epsom model. It works for me and Goldie, but we haven't seen David Parker in Epsom since the election."

The changes would also save millions of dollars. The exact cost of downsizing Parliament, and Government, is disputed. But a Parliamentary Library report from 1999 found cutting the number of MPs from 120 to 99 would result in a cost saving of at least $7.1 million a year. Or $3 per voter saved, every year.

STUFF Simon Bridges won't be at ACT's conference, but says he still values the party as a partner.

Seymour said this bill was a clear signal of the direction the party was headed over the next two years.

"The real point of it is, who is prepared to draw a line in the sand on the expansion of government? And if you can't do that, then what real commitment is there?"

If the changes were to come into effect, the bill states they would be confirmed by referendum.

Seymour said he expected to get the support of NZ First and Winston Peters, as Peters had long talked about reducing the number of electorates by abolishing the Māori seats, and cutting Parliament to 100 MPs.

During NZ First's party conference in July last year, Peters said if he was in Government, he would hold a binding referendum asking these two questions.

Peters did not win his fight to abolish the Māori seats as part of the Labour-NZ First coalition deal, but that did mean NZ First would not support ACT's plans to reduce government.

"So Winston, you'd think, would be a starter," Seymour said.

"But if he's going to have to suddenly explain why he doesn't support it … And if Winston does say yes, then what does Simon [Bridges] do?

"It's about trying to establish where the coalition is on smaller government."

Earlier in the week, Bridges said he believed there was a role for a party on the right, which was about tax, government spending, and "getting government out of your life".

This weekend's conference would be "a bit of a pre-launch to our relaunch".

"Obviously we need to do something different," Seymour said, vowing to get back to the core of what the party stood for.

LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff Stuff spends the day on the campaign trail with ACT's David Seymour.

On Sunday, Seymour came to the podium to a standing ovation from the 50 or so party faithful who packed into the conference in Auckland's exclusive Orakei.​

He quickly launched into a rolling speech that began with a poke at the current climate around free speech, National and the current government.

The audience was receptive, engaged and entertained by their leader.

Seymour began by focusing on the future of ACT's key policy, charter schools and the importance of winning in 2020 to preserve the party's status.

He then moved to the heart of ACT's platform - government oversight failing to achieve the things they set out to achieve.

"What's the point of fighting for power in if you are going to babysit their policies for four years," Seymour said, lobbying criticism at National.