2005: ACT 2.0

July 21, 2021

By AHNZ

Back in 2006 the ACT Party had declined to just two elected frenemies, MPs Rodney Hide and Heather Roy. On the party’s administrative Board were two young men who were crazy about politics and had big ambitions for the future. The board membership aided their securing posts as parliamentary staffers.

They are David Seymour (circle left) and Andrew Falloon (circle right.) Both realised their ambition of being elected to the House of Representatives. Fallon switched to National and gained the seat of Rangitata in 2017 and has just resigned (yes, another Nat bites the dust!) amid a swirl of sexual abuse bullying preceding a psychological breakdown.

Falloon loved politics and the ACT Party. He loved Ron Paul, The West Wing, getting to know people of influence and people with money. He loved policy and parliament and political news and campaigns. He had a parochialism about Canterbury that I found borderline disturbing. Turns out he married Rose from the Canterbury University Debating Society (even though she said she’d only marry someone who drove a ute…)

We’ll probably never know the full history of how National just lost its latest Member. (Less still about the true reason Nikki Kaye, the previous to go, jumped before a scandal pushed her.) It’s going to be especially hard on Andrew because politics has been his drug of choice for over 20 years and he has been getting more and more and now he has none. Hope he finds some real friends now.

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Image ref. ACT Party Board (2006); AHNZ Archives

Ref. National MP Andrew Falloon quits politics, alleged to have sent indecent image to young woman, Stuff (2020)

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