New Zealand swears in new deputy PM David Seymour
David Seymour, leader of the libertarian ACT New Zealand party, has been sworn in as deputy prime minister, taking the role from Winston Peters in a deal struck when the three-party coalition government was formed in 2023.
His party was behind the controversial move in 2024 to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that it says discriminates against non-Indigenous citizens, though the bill failed in parliament.
Seymour was appointed in a ceremony on Saturday at Auckland's Government House, a spokesperson told Reuters.
ACT New Zealand is the junior partner in the centre-right ruling coalition that also includes the Peters-led New Zealand First and the National Party, led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
In parliament since 2014, Seymour will retain the role of regulation minister, tasked to assess rules in the Pacific nation of 5.3 million and keep the position of associate minister of health, finance, and education.
Seymour has also driven efforts to legalise euthanasia, voted to legalise abortion in 2020 and attended a pro-Hong Kong democracy protest in Auckland in 2019.
ACT New Zealand wants a smaller role for government and a bigger role for free markets, it says on its website.
David Seymour, leader of the libertarian ACT New Zealand party, has been sworn in as deputy prime minister, taking the role from Winston Peters in a deal struck when the three-party coalition government was formed in 2023.
His party was behind the controversial move in 2024 to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that it says discriminates against non-Indigenous citizens, though the bill failed in parliament.
Seymour was appointed in a ceremony on Saturday at Auckland's Government House, a spokesperson told Reuters.
ACT New Zealand is the junior partner in the centre-right ruling coalition that also includes the Peters-led New Zealand First and the National Party, led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
In parliament since 2014, Seymour will retain the role of regulation minister, tasked to assess rules in the Pacific nation of 5.3 million and keep the position of associate minister of health, finance, and education.
Seymour has also driven efforts to legalise euthanasia, voted to legalise abortion in 2020 and attended a pro-Hong Kong democracy protest in Auckland in 2019.
ACT New Zealand wants a smaller role for government and a bigger role for free markets, it says on its website.
David Seymour, leader of the libertarian ACT New Zealand party, has been sworn in as deputy prime minister, taking the role from Winston Peters in a deal struck when the three-party coalition government was formed in 2023.
His party was behind the controversial move in 2024 to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that it says discriminates against non-Indigenous citizens, though the bill failed in parliament.
Seymour was appointed in a ceremony on Saturday at Auckland's Government House, a spokesperson told Reuters.
ACT New Zealand is the junior partner in the centre-right ruling coalition that also includes the Peters-led New Zealand First and the National Party, led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
In parliament since 2014, Seymour will retain the role of regulation minister, tasked to assess rules in the Pacific nation of 5.3 million and keep the position of associate minister of health, finance, and education.
Seymour has also driven efforts to legalise euthanasia, voted to legalise abortion in 2020 and attended a pro-Hong Kong democracy protest in Auckland in 2019.
ACT New Zealand wants a smaller role for government and a bigger role for free markets, it says on its website.
David Seymour, leader of the libertarian ACT New Zealand party, has been sworn in as deputy prime minister, taking the role from Winston Peters in a deal struck when the three-party coalition government was formed in 2023.
His party was behind the controversial move in 2024 to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that it says discriminates against non-Indigenous citizens, though the bill failed in parliament.
Seymour was appointed in a ceremony on Saturday at Auckland's Government House, a spokesperson told Reuters.
ACT New Zealand is the junior partner in the centre-right ruling coalition that also includes the Peters-led New Zealand First and the National Party, led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
In parliament since 2014, Seymour will retain the role of regulation minister, tasked to assess rules in the Pacific nation of 5.3 million and keep the position of associate minister of health, finance, and education.
Seymour has also driven efforts to legalise euthanasia, voted to legalise abortion in 2020 and attended a pro-Hong Kong democracy protest in Auckland in 2019.
ACT New Zealand wants a smaller role for government and a bigger role for free markets, it says on its website.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
7 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Bridge collapse, train derailment in Russia kills seven
At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge collapsed onto railway tracks after an "illegal interference," derailing a train in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine. The train's locomotive and several cars derailed late on Saturday "due to the collapse of a span structure of the road bridge as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport", Russian Railways said on the Telegram messaging app. Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram that 44 people were hospitalised. Three children were among those injured with one in serious condition, he added. Russia's ministry of emergency situations said on Telegram that efforts to find and rescue victims continued throughout the night, and that some 180 personnel were involved in the operation. Among those killed was the locomotive driver, Russia's state news agencies reported, citing medics. Social media pictures and videos showed passengers trying to help others climb out of the train's damaged carriages in the dark and firefighters looking for ways to reach passengers. Russia's Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up. Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids from Ukraine into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine. The train was going from the town of Klimovo to Moscow, Russian Railways said. It collided with the collapsed bridge in the area of a federal highway in the Vygonichskyi district of the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said. The district lies some 100km from the border with Ukraine. US President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul. Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new US sanctions. with Reuters At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge collapsed onto railway tracks after an "illegal interference," derailing a train in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine. The train's locomotive and several cars derailed late on Saturday "due to the collapse of a span structure of the road bridge as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport", Russian Railways said on the Telegram messaging app. Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram that 44 people were hospitalised. Three children were among those injured with one in serious condition, he added. Russia's ministry of emergency situations said on Telegram that efforts to find and rescue victims continued throughout the night, and that some 180 personnel were involved in the operation. Among those killed was the locomotive driver, Russia's state news agencies reported, citing medics. Social media pictures and videos showed passengers trying to help others climb out of the train's damaged carriages in the dark and firefighters looking for ways to reach passengers. Russia's Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up. Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids from Ukraine into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine. The train was going from the town of Klimovo to Moscow, Russian Railways said. It collided with the collapsed bridge in the area of a federal highway in the Vygonichskyi district of the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said. The district lies some 100km from the border with Ukraine. US President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul. Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new US sanctions. with Reuters At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge collapsed onto railway tracks after an "illegal interference," derailing a train in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine. The train's locomotive and several cars derailed late on Saturday "due to the collapse of a span structure of the road bridge as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport", Russian Railways said on the Telegram messaging app. Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram that 44 people were hospitalised. Three children were among those injured with one in serious condition, he added. Russia's ministry of emergency situations said on Telegram that efforts to find and rescue victims continued throughout the night, and that some 180 personnel were involved in the operation. Among those killed was the locomotive driver, Russia's state news agencies reported, citing medics. Social media pictures and videos showed passengers trying to help others climb out of the train's damaged carriages in the dark and firefighters looking for ways to reach passengers. Russia's Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up. Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids from Ukraine into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine. The train was going from the town of Klimovo to Moscow, Russian Railways said. It collided with the collapsed bridge in the area of a federal highway in the Vygonichskyi district of the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said. The district lies some 100km from the border with Ukraine. US President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul. Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new US sanctions. with Reuters At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge collapsed onto railway tracks after an "illegal interference," derailing a train in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine. The train's locomotive and several cars derailed late on Saturday "due to the collapse of a span structure of the road bridge as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport", Russian Railways said on the Telegram messaging app. Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram that 44 people were hospitalised. Three children were among those injured with one in serious condition, he added. Russia's ministry of emergency situations said on Telegram that efforts to find and rescue victims continued throughout the night, and that some 180 personnel were involved in the operation. Among those killed was the locomotive driver, Russia's state news agencies reported, citing medics. Social media pictures and videos showed passengers trying to help others climb out of the train's damaged carriages in the dark and firefighters looking for ways to reach passengers. Russia's Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up. Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids from Ukraine into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine. The train was going from the town of Klimovo to Moscow, Russian Railways said. It collided with the collapsed bridge in the area of a federal highway in the Vygonichskyi district of the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said. The district lies some 100km from the border with Ukraine. US President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul. Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new US sanctions. with Reuters
The Age
8 hours ago
- The Age
Thom Yorke reveals ‘heavy' mental health toll after walking off stage during Melbourne show over silence on Gaza
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has revealed his mental health suffered a heavy blow after he stormed offstage during a solo show in Melbourne last October when he was heckled by a pro-Palestine protester. Yorke on Saturday posted an eight-page statement on Instagram about the war in Gaza, saying he remained in shock that his 'supposed silence' was perceived by some as complicity with Israel. In the post he also called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu an extremist. Footage filmed of the fiery exchange on October 31, taken by a member of the audience during the encore of Yorke's second show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, showed a man in the crowd yelling about the 'Israeli genocide of Gaza' and the devastating death toll. Yorke responded: 'Hop up on the f---ing stage and say what you wanna say. Don't stand there like a coward, come here and say it. You want to piss on everybody's night? OK, you do it, see you later then.' The audience member screamed, in part, 'How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?' In the statement, the musician directly addressed the incident, saying 'some guy shouting at me from the dark last year … didn't really seem like the best moment to discuss the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.' Yorke said his silence had been an attempt to show respect for all those who were suffering and those who had died during the conflict. However, he said this had allowed 'opportunistic groups to use intimidation and defamation to fill in the blanks'.
Sydney Morning Herald
8 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Thom Yorke reveals ‘heavy' mental health toll after walking off stage during Melbourne show over silence on Gaza
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has revealed his mental health suffered a heavy blow after he stormed offstage during a solo show in Melbourne last October when he was heckled by a pro-Palestine protester. Yorke on Saturday posted an eight-page statement on Instagram about the war in Gaza, saying he remained in shock that his 'supposed silence' was perceived by some as complicity with Israel. In the post he also called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu an extremist. Footage filmed of the fiery exchange on October 31, taken by a member of the audience during the encore of Yorke's second show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, showed a man in the crowd yelling about the 'Israeli genocide of Gaza' and the devastating death toll. Yorke responded: 'Hop up on the f---ing stage and say what you wanna say. Don't stand there like a coward, come here and say it. You want to piss on everybody's night? OK, you do it, see you later then.' The audience member screamed, in part, 'How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?' In the statement, the musician directly addressed the incident, saying 'some guy shouting at me from the dark last year … didn't really seem like the best moment to discuss the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.' Yorke said his silence had been an attempt to show respect for all those who were suffering and those who had died during the conflict. However, he said this had allowed 'opportunistic groups to use intimidation and defamation to fill in the blanks'.
