David Seymour set to take over as deputy PM
David Seymour has vowed to keep speaking freely as he takes over as deputy prime minister - while an unshackled Winston Peters shifts into campaign mode - with a plan to avoid another handover next term. Deputy political editor Craig McCulloch reports.
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RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
'I've had a wonderful life': 90 years of Jim Bolger
Jim Bolger in December 2016. Photo: RNZ Jim Bolger, who was the prime minister between 1990 and 1997, turned 90 on Saturday. He reflected on the last nine decades of his life on Sunday Morning - after having celebrated with a "big gathering" of family, friends, and neighbours. On his political career, Bolger said the biggest issue was to get Pākehā to "face up to the reality that we owed Māori". "We took big steps in the economy, and got the economy going, and all the rest, but the country and society is more than the economy," he said. "Māori ... had been badly, badly treated by the early settlers, we owed Māori redress and change. "I put that higher than managing the books, as it were, with the help of others, and of course you're always helped by others, but the Treaty principles and recognition that the early European settlers did not treat Māori fairly, I think was hugely important." Bolger said he did not understand those, such as David Seymour - who had also been sworn in as deputy prime minister on Saturday - who "want to diminish the role of Māori in New Zealand". "They were here first, they were here very much before everybody else, and they have been part of our history from that time on." He said the current prime minister, Christopher Luxon, needed to tell Seymour "to shut up with his anti-Māori rhetoric" - and to thank Winston Peters for what he's doing in foreign affairs - "because I think he's doing that job well". "Winston's a very interesting political figure, there's no question about it. He's certainly left his mark on politics in New Zealand." Bolger said his Irish ancestry helped him engage emotionally and attitudinally with Māori. "I sort of instinctively knew what it was like to be treated as second-class citizens, and Māori were treated as second-class citizens. And some people still want to do that." Bolger grew up in coastal Taranaki, and said he was not taught "a single word" about the invasion of a pacifist settlement at Parihaka, but was taught about War of the Roses in England. Parihaka Pa, circa 1900, with Mount Taranaki - taken by an unidentified photographer. Photo: Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand / Ref 1/2-056542-F, Alexander Turnbull Library, Reflecting on his life outside of his political career, he could not say what he was most proud of - "I think it'd be foolish to try and select one over another." He began as a farmer - from helping his neighbour to milk cows at nine, to leaving Ōpunake High School at 15 to work on the family dairy farm, and owning his own near Rahotu at 27. He got married and moved to a sheep and beef farm in Te Kūiti two years later. Bolger then joined the National Party and was an MP, the leader of the opposition, and then the prime minister after National won the 1990 general election. He later became New Zealand's Ambassador to the United States, was elected Chancellor of the University of Waikato, and has been the chairman of a number of state-owned enterprises and other organisations. Bolger was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal in 1993, and was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand in 1998. He also has nine children and 18 grandchildren. "They were all important and very interesting positions to have, and I enjoyed it," Bolger said. "When you get to 90, and reflecting back over my variety of positions I've had across the world, and the countries I've visited, which are without number, there's so many, that it's just been very fortunate. "I've had a wonderful life with a wonderful wife and family, and it's all been good." As for advice he would give to New Zealanders, Bolger said the main thing would be to listen to others. "Don't try and dictate to them, listen to them, see what they're saying, see what their issues are, see what their concerns are, and then you might be able to make a sensible suggestion to help their lives. "And if you approach it from that direction, you know, how can I help this person or that person, then I'm sure you'll be much more satisfied with your life, and hopefully, they will be better off." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
6 hours ago
- RNZ News
Aquaculture animal welfare code 'anti-Kiwi', Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is ruling out an animal welfare code for aquaculture, saying it is "anti-Kiwi" and an "indulgence". The SPCA has called for a code to protect farmed fish, following a government plan to grow the industry's revenue to $3 billion annually by 2035. Scientific officer Marie McAninch said a code would also help give the aquaculture sector access to the sorts of international markets that land-based farmers benefit from, thanks to their animal welfare codes. "New Zealanders care about how farmed animals are treated - and so do people overseas who buy our products. They'll expect that farmed fish in aquaculture are treated well and that their welfare meets our animal welfare laws. "A code of welfare for aquaculture would help make that happen. But right now, New Zealand's Aquaculture Strategy - and the Aquaculture Development Strategy that Shane Jones announced in March - are both completely silent on the welfare of the animals being farmed." Jones said he would not be considering an animal welfare code. "Most certainly not. I think these impositions are anti-Kiwi. We are in the midst of a set of economic challenges where we must expand and grow the footprint of aquaculture. It's all going to end up [as food for] human consumption or pet consumption." Jones said existing fish farmers already did "a very good job" of looking after their stock. "All of these animal husbandry businesses, there's always scope for improvement. But regulatory codes ... only represent red tape and at a deeper level where does all this end? We're a small economy and a lot of these impositions are, in my view, indulgences. They're vanity projects and these debates need a clear set of contrasting views." But McAninch said New Zealanders cared about how farmed animals were treated - and so did people overseas who bought products from New Zealand fish farms. Fish were legally recognised as sentient beings, which meant they were capable of feeling pain, stress and positive emotional states, she said. The SPCA was not against aquaculture, McAninch said. "But we do believe it's crucial to make sure all farmed animals - and any wild animals affected by these systems - are properly protected. Our land-based farming sectors take pride in their animal welfare codes, and it's helped them with access to international markets. If the aquaculture sector doesn't plan for this now, they risk falling behind in a global environment where factory farming is increasingly under scrutiny." Jones said he was "the first to admit some of my views might be a bit difficult to stomach". But animal advocates were "on a trajectory of mission creep, and I kind of feel it's anti-Kiwi," he said. "I can understand that little kittens and dogs that bite children and other welfare considerations [are] an established part of rural life and our ethos, but suggesting that people growing salmon, new fish species and indeed shellfish ... we already have a system through the Resource Management Act that deals with the effects of such activity." Jones described a recent outcry by animal lovers about farming octopuses , which are sentient beings, as "the height of this folly". "We need to grow industry, we don't want to impose these urban based vanity beliefs of basic industrial growth prospects." Octopus farming was banned in the United States in Washington and California due to animal welfare concerns, and consideration of a ban is also underway in three more states. But Jones said New Zealand could not afford such "luxury indulgences". "It's not something that I'm going to encourage, it's certainly not something I'm going to push forward, or agree with, at a time we have large competing objectives and other goals that I think society should set its mind upon." The SPCA would welcome talks with the minister about how a welfare code could help ensure the aquaculture sector was sustainable and resilient, McAninch said. There is currently no code of welfare for farmed fish species, although the New Zealand Salmon Farmers Association has developed a voluntary welfare standard for farmed salmon in New Zealand. The Animal Welfare Act 1999 (the AWA) and the Code of Welfare for Commercial Slaughter applies to farmed fish and for any fish that are intended to be held or transported live. The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) has identified development of a code of welfare for farmed fish for consideration as a future priority. The Minister in charge of Animal Welfare, Associate Minister of Agriculture Andrew Hoggard said NAWAC set its own work programme and schedule for code reviews, but he had asked it to prioritise production livestock codes, and the rodeo code. "Several of these codes have been under review for some time and the industries concerned need certainty. I expect NAWAC to deliver on those codes before turning their attention to other animal species." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
7 hours ago
- Scoop
ACT New Zealand Celebration Brunch
Speech – ACT New Zealand Speech ACT Leader David Seymour Sunday 1 June, 2025 ACT New Zealand Celebration Brunch Intro 'It does not take a majority to prevail … but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men and woman.' That was Sam Adams, one of the United States' founding fathers. So many people here today, and some who sadly couldn't be, fit Sam Adams' description: I know one or two here are, occasionally, irate. To get this far, we've had to be tireless. I suspect we'll always be a minority, but we succeed by setting brushfires in people's minds. Human freedom, to do what you like if you don't harm others, is the only thing truly worth fighting for. Only when that principle prevails can we turn our efforts on fighting problems in the natural world, instead of each other. This is no swansong, just a little rest before the next climb, perhaps the next setback, we've had lots of both, and we'll have lots more. Today's an opportunity to thank you for all your efforts setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of New Zealanders, and recommit ourselves to the mission of promoting a free society. Challenges I've faced and people who've helped/what I've learned from them Now, it hasn't always been easy. If I had to pick a theme song for the last ten years, it could be one of Mark Knopfler. The Scaffolder's Wife. Mark always writes with great empathy for the struggling. 'In the wicked old days, when we went it alone. Kept the company goin,' on a wing and a prayer.' Those words really stick with me, because sum up my first six years of leading ACT. In fact, it hasn't just been a bit difficult. Most of the time it seemed bloody impossible. It's a happy miracle our party exists. There is no party committed to human freedom anywhere in the world as successful as ACT. Most politicians find it too easy to get votes by promising other people's money, or promising to regulate other people's choices. We take the hard road. We seek political power by promising voters only the freedom to make the most of their own lives. We do so because only the creative powers of a free society can generate the wealth to overcome our challenges. Not only is our mission fundamentally hard, but sometimes we've made it harder than necessary. I hesitate to bring it up, but we've burned ourselves on one or two of our own brushfires along the way. Our perk buster took a perk. Our tough on crime guy got convicted. Our leadership had a civil war. We were subject to an unconventional coup. In 2011, ACT ran one of the most corageous three-pronged election campaigns in modern history. Supply side economics, one law for all, and freeing the weed. There are constituencies for all three causes, but they don't all get along. John Banks steadied the ship, and I want to thank him for his unconditional support. John didn't just allow the party to survive, he allowed it to survive as a liberal party. I imagine being turned around to vote for gay marriage wasn't easy for him. On the other hand, saying no to Jenny isn't easier either. John's sacrifices allowed Jamie Whyte and I to run a ticket in 2014, but things could still get much worse. It turned out my dear friend with a CV from heaven was brilliant at everything but politics. I say all this because it's the backdrop to one hell of a climb. You have to see where we started to see how far we've come. That is, to see the full achievement of the people in this room and some who can't be here today. We've made ACT the world's most successful classical liberal party. For five years, nothing we did made a jot of difference. There was a Facebook group called 'Is ACT polling 1 per cent yet,' and it seemed like it would be forever. People said our party was not legitimate. They said we shouldn't even be in Parliament. They said we had no real agency, being an offshoot of another party. When they talked about us, they didn't talk about what I was saying in the present. Instead, they judged us by others had taken while I myself had been living in another country. After the election disaster of 2017, I said that it didn't matter what our shop was selling. We just couldn't get anyone in the door, let alone buying. This kind of relentless doomism was the opposite of everything ACT stands for. We believe, as Richard Prebble says in I've Been Thinking, that life isn't like bad weather, you can make a difference in your time on Earth. Unfortunately, some things were like the weather. We couldn't make it rain financially. Eric Clapton said nobody knows you when you're down and out. I can tell you from experience that very few donate to your political party, either. Lindsay Fergusson is one who can't be here, may he rest in peace. I remember we got to $7,000 left. We'd miss rent on the office and be kicked out if something didn't change. Lindsay put $5,000 in ACT's account and said 'don't tell Lynne.' Lynne, I hope the secret's ok to let out now. I used to try to call two ACT members every week day. One day I called a guy called Chris Reeve. I noticed his email address was superman. He also said he wanted to donate. Could this guy be for real? I earnestly explained where the party was up to and what I needed to raise in a year to keep it going. He looked at me and said 'I'll do half if that Jenny Gibbs will do the other half.' I still remember clearly the first time I met Jenny, in 2005. 'I'm a social liberal, too,' she said. Her generous support of ACT is published by the Electoral Commission, but her personal support of successive ACT leaders is not. She is one of the warmest and wisest women in New Zealand and we're lucky to have her. Not every donor gives in the thousands, but thousands have given donations to keep our party alive, even when it might have seemed like palliative care. I thank everyone who's given to ACT, whether you gave $5 or $5,000. Some people give their time. In the wicked old days when we went it alone, I was never really alone. So many people helped, delivering mail, erecting signs, filing the party accounts, and opening up their homes for house meetings. Alison and Stu Macfarlane rapidly edited my second book Own Your Future. They said the timeline was mad. I said we couldn't move the election. I think that book helped keep the party together. Most parties couldn't publish a book of their policies. Some probably think books are a symbol of colonisation anyway. What sets ACT apart is that we are a party of ideas. People think a political party is an enormous enterprise with limitless resources required to Govern a country. If you were taking hope or reassurance from that, I'm sorry to disappoint. We're more reliant on wings and prayers than massive resources. One person who found this out the hard way was Malcolm Pollock. Chis Fletcher, Auckland's mother, introduced him to me. He thought he might get a minor role making the tea on the sidelines of this vast edifice. We walked out of Fraser's café as the bewildered new Chair of the Party's only functioning electorate committee! In similar circumstances, Ruwan Premathilaka became party President. So many Malcolms and Margarets up and down this country have volunteered to make our party possible. ACT has ten times more members today than it did when Malcolm joined. Perhaps the hardest role in the Party is being the President. You're legally responsible for the organization, but to survive it needs to change strategy at a moment's notice. It must be the Governance equivalent of riding a mechanical Bull. We've been lucky to have very patient presidents, who've been prepared to hold the ship together. The current President, John Windsor, is perhaps New Zealand's greatest political activist. John has never met a problem he can't quickly and quietly fix. Signs, mail, volunteers, no problem. They say amateurs talk strategy, professional's talk logistics. In that sense John is a true professional, and a great ACT President. Some roles are so difficult we need to pay people to do them. That would be our parliamentary staff. If I've done anything right in politics, it's been attracting and retaining great people. Yesterday my electorate office staff came with me to Government House for the swearing in ceremony. I wanted them to be there because they're be best electorate team in the country. They get swamped with requests for help from other electorates. There's three positions and we've had one change in ten years, if turnover rates mean anything then we have a great team. The same thing goes for ACT's team in Wellington. We've been ranked by far the best working environment on the Parliamentary Precinct, and we keep attracting great talent. One talent stood out more than any. When Brooke van Velden came to work in Wellington, the End of Life Choice Bill was still possible, but far from inevitable. It got stuck in Select Committee for sixteen months, and the antis refused to be constructive. We couldn't make the changes we needed to get political buy in, let-alone make good law. We'd have to make these changes in The Committee of the Whole House stage, where each MP can individually vote on every word of the legislation. One wrong vote and the Bill could end up a nonsense, sinking a three-year project in a heartbeat. That's when we came up with the Sponsor's Report. If the eight MPs on the Select Committee, supported by the Ministry of Health, couldn't come up with a coherent set of reforms, then a 26-year-old woman with a sharp mind would. The Sponsor's Report remains one of the most effective policy documents ever produced in New Zealand. It was written by Brooke but, like Helen Clark, I just signed it. In the end we got MPs to vote for every change we needed to make the law, and oppose every change that would have stuffed it up. Besides Brooke, there have been 13 other new ACT MPs in the last decade, and they have been extraordinary. Nicole, Chris, Simon, James, Karen, Mark, Toni, Damien, Todd, Andrew, Parmjeet, Laura, and Cameron have been an exceptional team of players. However, they've also formed a great playing team, and we know a playing team always beats a team of players. Today our MPs in Government are delivering that real change that you asked for and we campaigned on. Our Parliamentarians are taking on the scourge of deepfake porn. I bet Roger Douglas never thought that would be come a cause when he founded the Party. We're standing up for academic freedom. We're keeping a watchful eye on bureaucracy for farmers and tradies alike. In Government, our Ministers are reforming, reforming, reforming. Brooke is taking on our calcified Health and and the hoary old Holidays Act. Nicole is finally delivering a rational approach to firearms law even as she changes the courts to speed up the clogged system. Karen is turning the department that failed her so deeply and personally into an effective protector of those who came after her. Andrew is standing up for the property rights of farmers when he defends New Zealand's biosecurity. Simon is the unsung hero of this Government, because delivering resource management law based on property rights will do more for the people who live in this country than any other reform this term. Of course, the Party's also bringing back charter schools, opening up overseas investment, saving the taxpayer billions, bringing Pharmac into the 21st century, slashing red tape, and legislating the Regulatory Standards Bill so for the first time our property rights will be in law. We've been busy. Some people have helped ACT in more creative, unexpected ways. When the female pro dancers first met for the 2018 season of Dancing with the Stars, they all agreed on one thing. Nobody wanted to be paired with 'that guy'. It was a guaranteed ticket home on the first elimination. Even my own family came to opening night. They thought it would be their only chance, and I might need consolation after the show. If I'd had any partner except Amelia McGregor, they would have been right. But we ended up campaigning as much as dancing. We took on the bullies and fought for the downtrodden, the overlooked, and the physically uncoordinated up and down New Zealand! The kindest thing the judges said is that I proved absolutely anyone can dance. I think that's what our tireless minority has proven over the years. With quiet determination we can change our future, and the future course of this country. Anyone can dance. That's why we stand for the farmers, the landlords, the licensed firearm owners, the free speech advocates, the small business owners, and the ethnic and religious minorities. Everyone has the right to live free in the country, because anyone can dance. Why New Zealand needs more of a movement like ours Now, this must all sound very nostalgic. If our opponents have listened this far, they're probably hoping I'm building up to a retirement. I've talked about how we got to today because it's worth pausing and looking back. It's essential to acknowledge and thank the many people who got us this far. We should, as our stalwart member Vince Ashworth says, foster a culture of appreciation. That said, I'm not going anywhere but ahead. Sorry Labour, ACT remains your worst nightmare, and New Zealand's best hope. Nearly every single press release, fundraising email, talking point from Labour lately has been about how dangerous David Seymour is. I get so much free accommodation living in Willie Jackson's head, I might need to declare it to Parliament's register of interests. To Labour, yes I am dangerous, but only to you and your batty outriders. What's more your strategy of directing more attention to ACT will backfire. To paraphrase Br'er Rabbit, we're born and bred under political pressure. When you put the spotlight on ACT, you show people the party and the attitude this country needs. We can be down and out, through wicked old days, and rise again. We've been able to do it because we have something you can never take away, our philosophy. Our core beliefs are the beliefs that founded this country. Wave after wave of migrants have taken huge risks to give their children a better life on these islands. We are a nation of pioneers united in the belief that things can get better, no matter how hard they seem there is always hope. We don't discriminate against each other, based on things we can't change about ourselves. We only discriminate based on the choices we do make. Human freedom, and personal responsibility under the law. We know the world is unpredictable, and the only path to success is letting a thousand flowers bloom, looking for success that we can push up, instead of pull down. Our opponents are a Labour Party best described as lost. There is a Green Party that barely talks about the environment. There is the extraordinary spectre of a race-based party that increasingly threatens violence against its opponents, tolerated by the media. What unites them is a poverty of spirit. The idea that other people's success is not an example of what's possible, but somehow the source of their supporters' problems. They traffic in the idolisation of envy, and even if they manage to sell it, it still won't work. ACT on the other hand, and our celebration today, shows that anyone can dance. Yes our country faces problems, but ACT knows how to overcome them. It starts with belief. When seemed easiest to give up, you may find you were really just turning the corner. Today there are too many Kiwis leaving, and not enough believing. I believe New Zealand remains a good bet. We have no excuses for not creating a great country, but it's the culture that matters. The real culture war today is not about which bathroom you go to, it is about whether we are here to push people up or pull them down. Can we move past the dark underbelly of tall poppy, and celebrate the achievements of Sheppard, Rutherford, Ngata and Hillary, with many more to come? We have to believe life is a positive sum game, that win-wins are possible if we treat each other with mutual respect and dignity. We can become a kind of Athens of the modern world, a place where creative people are welcomed to move and invest, joining people already here who fundamentally believe the point of our country is to make success possible. Every policy should be measured against the simple test, will this create the environment for New Zealanders to solve problems and make tomorrow better than today. It's what we used to call, progressive. It used to be an idea owned by the left, but today they are far too busy tearing people down and putting them in boxes, virtue signaling, categorising, and otherwise discriminating. If there's any party that can offer the values and the grit to take this country out of the doldrums and constant 'meh' that befalls New Zealand today, it's the party that's had to overcome the great Kiwi knocking machine from palliative care to the centre of Government. That effort would not have been possible without the people in this room and beyond who believed in us when no-one else would, because they believe in the Party's ideas. Thank you for getting us to this milestone, and buckle yourselves in because in Hillary terms, today is only base camp.
