The event was billed as a meet-and-greet rather than a place for speeches, but Henry, sensing the crowd’s interest, took to the floor, unintentionally standing beneath a Confederate flag.
Paul Henry walking into the Black Dog Tavern in Makotuku near Dannevirke. Photo / Jack Riddell
He explained the fundamental principles of Act – smaller government, reducing debt, growing the economy and “one rule for all”.
“We will go much harder and faster this time around than we did last time,” he said.
Henry opened the floor to questions, which included genetic engineering and the ethics of AI.
“Act doesn’t want us to stand in the way of our future,” he said of genetic engineering.
“My biggest worry is our economy is in such a perilous position, we won’t be in the position as a country to take advantage of the benefits of AI, we will just suffer the downside,” he said of AI, adding the country couldn’t afford to say no to data centres.
“We’ve got to meet the rest of the world.”
He then briefly paused to share some penance.
“God, I can talk, can’t I?”
Henry spoke of Act’s commitment to cancer treatment to rival Australia’s, and getting more Kiwis off the benefit.
The 67-year-old was asked how committed he would be to Parliament.
He said for two terms he was “absolutely committed”.
The questioner heaped praise upon Henry.
“I think you’ve given more hope to New Zealand than anybody else.”
Paul Henry at the Black Dog Tavern. Photo / Jack Riddell
They then told Henry they’d felt betrayed by National because the party hadn’t followed through on election promises surrounding “the Māori issue”.
“Can you believe that they didn’t vote for our policy? Only Act voted for ‘one rule for all’,” Henry replied.
Henry answered questions about polls, explaining he didn’t believe in single results but believed in trends, and said Act would leave the Paris Agreement.
He called the Opportunity Party “dishonest socialists”, before asking the crowd to vote for Act, but constituency vote National.
He then took a swing at the Greens.
“Look at the Greens’ list people. Seriously, look, they’re barely people.”
Trump became a topic of conversation and Henry said Americans should have let Trump do what he wanted to do after he was elected in 2016 instead of protesting and tying him up in ”red tape”.
He said in Trump’s second term, he started signing executive orders “on day one”.
“And we need to do that. We need to make things happen.”
Henry thanked the crowd for listening before being surrounded by people keen for selfies and chats.
He finished his red, took a photo of Wilson with an empty yardglass – a reference to the pub’s recent conflict with licensing inspectors – and headed back out on tour.
Henry told Hawke’s Bay Today the reason he was campaigning so hard was that he couldn’t have lived with himself if he woke up on November 8 to a Labour government.
“It would kill me if I hadn’t put a bit of effort in.”
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.