NZ: Grant Seton interview with Hawke's Bay Today's Jack Riddell

"Grant Seton enters Tukituki race as an independent"

Jack Riddell from Hawke's Bay today has been interviewing and getting a photo of Candidates for NZ's General Election, being held on 07 November 2026.

BEGINS

Grant Seton enters Tukituki race as an independent

A Hawke’s Bay independent candidate says he decided to run for Parliament after being disappointed with his interactions with incumbent MP Catherine Wedd.

Grant Seton, 61, is running in the Tukituki electorate.

The technologist, broadcaster and owner of internet radio station Vision 100 said he felt electorate MPs from major parties like National often found themselves hamstrung by their party rather than advocating for local communities.

Seton said “generic stuff” was important for standardised systems around the country.

“But at the local issues, I don’t think you get Catherine being bipartisan and working with everybody."

“As somebody in the fourth estate [working in the media], she’s actually inspired me to stand.”

Seton said he was a quality candidate because of his age and experience working in the public sector and media.

With independents able to vote on a case-by-case basis rather than being tied to a party line, Seton said he would get a better deal for the electorate than someone in the party system.

If elected, Seton said he would force media outlets receiving Government funding from NZ On Air to “do their job” by researching politicians further than their press releases.

He wanted to broaden the tax base so everyone paid a little rather than a few paying a lot, by shifting GST from 15% to 5%, removing compulsory KiwiSaver membership, and taxing foreign corporates operating in the country.

He wanted unemployed people to be able to walk into the Ministry of Social Development and immediately get a job, rather than being “thrown to the sidelines for the benefit”.

He suggested people on the benefit who could work should work for councils, like mowing lawns, if they were able.

ENDS

About the writer: Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany and New Zealand.