The State of David Seymour's Shamelessness

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When it comes to hypocrisy, ACT Leader David Seymour has truly cornered the market - surpassing even *Dr* Shane Reti’s willingness to abandon Aotearoa’s smoke free legislation for dubious political short-term gain.

Mr Seymour’s so-called “State of the Nation” speech - delivered at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland (where else?) on 28 January - was something to behold.

On hearing his words, ninety percent of the nation would have spluttered their morning coffee/tea/Milo over the breakfast table. The remaining ten percent would’ve wondered, “Really?! He can get away with that?”.

First he stated, matter-of-factly:

The problem is this century’s first two decades were lost decades under Clark, Key, and Ardern. Their governments had three things in common.

1.They denied problems.

They said there was no housing crisis when ownership rates were in free fall and houses cost ten times income. They said if kids got more NCEA credits, that was the same as more education, even as our students fell down the international tables. They told us population growth was as good as productivity growth. They told us the gradual erosion of liberal democracy was new and enlightened biculturalism.

1.They governed without values.

They eroded the simple idea that a person can make a difference in their own life. When did you last hear a political leader plainly state that doing your homework, earning a living, making sure your kids go to school, with lunch, and following the law are just your responsibility? These are basic truths but even reading them out has come to sound quaint in a world where your identity matters more than your actions.

1.They made bad policy.

Without accepting problems or applying values, bad policy is inevitable. At school, students found the curriculum was gutted, while exams were replaced with credits. Tenancy law, employment law, and criminal law all became fuzzier with more rights and fewer responsibilities. Increasing benefits for people who don’t work became a political contest while the responsibility to work became an afterthought.

That’s just a sample of the last twenty years. That’s why it’s time for real change, but you can see not everyone is on board for this.

Now aside from the curious bullet-pointing of each three issues with “1” (is that how far ACT’s speech-writer can count?) - Mr Seymour has omitted to mention that he was part of the John Key administration, from 8 October 2014 to 26 October 2017. In fact, not only did ACT support the National government in coalition, he was no less than a Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Education and his pet-project, Regulatory Reform:

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So when Mr Seymour lambasts the Key administration for “denying problems”; “students [falling] down the international tables”; “governed without values”; “eroded the simple idea that YOU are the person that makes the difference in your own life”; “made bad policy”; “change in values has resulted in more regulation”; and a whole catalogue of other social, economic, and political woes - where was he from 2014 to 2017??

What responsibility does Mr Seymour take in his doom-laden speech of unmitigated failures?

Because according to ACT, they place a huge premium on individuals taking personal responsibility for their actions.

From Mr Seymour’s State of the Nation speech:

Over the last quarter of a century, the Clark, Key, and Ardern governments have all eroded the simple idea that YOU are the person that makes the difference in your own life. There’s been a cultural shift towards the idea that if there is a problem to be solved, or if life is to get better, the people in Wellington will do it for us.

He also mentions [personal] responsibility three times in succession. (Though only in reference to those at the bottom of the socio-economic heap.)

From ACT’s website:

“ACT was founded in 1993 as the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers by Derek Quigley, a former National cabinet minister and Sir Roger Douglas, the former Labour Minister of Finance. Since we became a political party in 1994, we have consistently been the party of ideas, advocating for expanded personal freedom and responsibility.”

There seems not to have been much personal responsibility shown by Mr Seymour for his seemingly wasted three years in Parliament, as part of Key’s administration. Which raises the question of just what he was doing during his time as an Under-Secretary? And why didn’t he speak out earlier if the then-National coalition government was so inept?

If, under National, “…our country has lost two decades this century. We cannot lose another. Thanks to governments that denied reality, eroded our values, and put in place poor policies” - what was his role during this time?

If things were as dire as he suggests, Mr Seymour has some questions to answer.

Next, this:

Now, here’s the challenge to those who disagree with the Treaty Principles Bill. The arguments we are hearing so far won’t work.

Don’t call anyone who disagrees with you racist. What you say is not only untrue but saying it cheapens the word.

[…]

Don’t say, or even hint, that there will be violence if you don’t get your way.

These arguments pave the road to division. Take those arguments off the table and try dialogue like adults.

[…]

Leaders in Māoridom who have the ear of the young need to ask themselves: are they dealing with the issues responsibly, or simply inciting baseless racial resentment? It is an important question.

The cheek of the man to demand from Māori: “Leaders in Māoridom who have the ear of the young need to ask themselves: are they dealing with the issues responsibly, or simply inciting baseless racial resentment?”

Mr Seymour has stirred up a hornet’s nest of issues surrounding Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori, Te Reo, and invoked strong emotive epithets like “ethno-state”. He has put fear into the minds of some Pākehā by questioning “what is the place of a child born in this country today who is not Māori? Are they born into second class citizenship as Tangata Tiriti, where some roles in public life are not available to them because they have the wrong ancestors?”.

It seems to be the play-book of far Right political groups - ACT not an exception - to stoke racial division; exploit fears by inciting with inflammatory, emotional rhetoric; to undermine social cohesion - and then blame it on the ethnic group being targeted.

This is the worst sort of American-style, Trumpian politics, and we are witnessing it first-hand on our own shores.

Even Winston Peters never got down this deep into the gutter of fear-mongering politics.

And lastly.

In my previous blogpost, (The Desperate Cynicism of David Seymour), I maintained that it was my belief that ACT was still engaging in political campaigning:

…that is precisely what David Seymour is doing. Long after Election Night was over on 14 October last year, David Seymour has maintained a one-man election campaign.

For the ACT leader, the campaigning last year did not end - it was but a prelude.

Seymour understands that the stability of the current coalition government is only a veneer. Quietly simmering not far beneath the surface is an unresolved volatility as the leaders of ACT and NZ First struggle for pre-eminence as the Major Partner to National.

[…]

Always at the back of mind for Seymour and the ACT Party, the next election could be three years away. Or three months. Like Muldoon calling the snap election in July 1984, or Peters aborting the National-NZ First Coalition in 1998, the current political landscape is as shaky as Aotearoa’s earthquake faultlines.

As Seymour ramps up his covert campaigning, Māori become the “collateral damage” in his desperate strategy for political relevance.

At the conclusion of his “State of the Nation” speech, Mr Seymour is clearly touting for votes:

“You are the humble New Zealand battlers willing and able to do the hard yards – to build valuable businesses, raise great kids, and contribute to the tapestry of our culture through language, ideas, and art – thank you. You are the champions of New Zealand’s story. ACT stands for you and our goal is to shift power from the government departments and politicians in Wellington back to you, your family, and your business. I hope you’ll come along for the noble, challenging, and essential ride.”

If ever there was lingering doubt that Mr Seymour and his Party are on the campaign trail, and exploiting terrible race-based, fear-mongering in the process, his own words should disabuse you of any such notions.

And it’s going to get worse.

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Postscript

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References

RNZ: Northland doctors say scrapping smokefree legislation 'ridiculous'

Scoop media: David Seymour - State of the Nation 2024

ACT Party: Principles

Mastodon: @fmacskasy - snap election prediction - david seymour

Previous related blogposts

The Desperate Cynicism of David Seymour

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