Aspiring MP’s aim: ‘long-term game’

As the name of the jurisdiction conveys, the Kaikōura Electorate includes Kaikōura. That part of is the home base for Tom Spooner, the MP candidate standing for the ACT party, though business often brings him to Marlborough.

Tom runs Spooner Brothers, a North Canterbury engineering firm servicing industrial equipment. He was born in Westport, raised in Kaikōura and last year stood for Hurunui District Council.

His 2025 experience prompted the 2026 campaign. In a field including two sitting MPs and two other challengers, Tom is optimistic yet realistic.

“This is a longer-term game,” he explained during a recent visit to Blenheim. “I don’t expect to win, though that would be great. I really want to be in a position to deliver the best for the people of the electorate.

“It takes time for the public to get to know who you are, to trust you,” Tom added. “I’m not the ordinary politician – I’m a tradesman, I’m used to working with my hands, I’m used to fixing things, I’m used to dealing with things in the real world.”

Nimbleness
His view of the world has a global panorama. Tom’s parents, a civil engineer and a nurse, opened a backpackers’ hostel in Kaikōura in the early 1990s. At any given time, the Spooners would host two-dozen guests including visitors from overseas.

Tom also spent time working in Japan and in the States.

“The world is different than it was even 20 years ago,” he observed. “I think the real value of having a good electorate MP is making sure you can move at the speed of relevance and get ahead of some of these problems we see coming down the road.

“The only thing a small country has in its favour is the ability to move quickly. We don’t have constraints of size and scale; we should be able to try things. New Zealand really needs to be that innovator, but we’re so tied up with excess regulation in every sector, so most people can’t get to that starting point.”