Act party list released, Brash refuses to name 'empty' third spot candidate

Act has released its party list for the November 26 election but the third place is blank, with leader Don Brash saying the candidate is not ready to announce their move yet.

The number three position is being held for someone who has the unanimous support of the board, and has strong credentials for the role, but is not currently in a position to confirm availability. Dr Brash advised that in the meantime he would not be commenting further on this position other than to confirm that the person concerned was not a current MP.

Despite widespread speculation the unnamed person is ex-party president Catherine Isaac, Dr Brash would only say the candidate is a woman and will become public in 3-4 weeks.

The other surprise on the list was the ommission of Dunedin lawyer Hillary Calvert, a sitting MP.

Dr Brash is number one on the list with Act's current Parliamentary leader John Boscawen at number two, former Federated Farmers President Don Nicolson at number four and ACT’s Epsom candidate Hon John Banks at number five.    

David Seymour, 28, who is number six on the list and standing in Auckland Central, has just returned from a role as a senior policy analyst at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Canada. He is an also an author and rugby coach. Mr Seymour stood for the ACT Party in the 2005 in the Mt Albert electorate.         

Stephen Whittington, 25, who is number eight on the list, works in the tax law team of a corporate law firm. He is also a champion debater who has been named as one of the top ten speakers in Australasia and in 2009 was named as the 15th the best speaker in the world. Mr Whittington has worked as an adviser to Sir Roger Douglas in Parliament.      

Kath McCabe, who is number nine on the list, is a highly-qualified environmental lawyer and company director.

Robyn Stent, who is number ten on the list, is a former Health and Disability Commissioner.      

ACT Party List 2011   
1             Dr Don Brash
2             Hon John Boscawen
3             
4             Don Nicolson
5             Hon John Banks
6             David Seymour
7             Chris Simmons
8             Stephen Whittington
9             Kath McCabe
10           Robyn Stent
11           John Thompson
12           John Ormond
13           Lyn Murphy
14           Kevin Moratti
15           Robin Grieve
16           Pratima Nand
17           Dominic Costello
18           Toni Severen
19           Richard Evans
20           Ian Cummings
21           Gareth Veale
22           Toby Hutton
23           Dan Stratton
24           Robert Burnside
25           Hayden Fitzgerald
26           Alex Spiers
27           Peter McCaffrey