Deputy PM David Seymour speaks at Act celebration brunch. Video / Supplied
David Seymour has been sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister, succeeding Winston Peters.
Seymour’s appointment marks a milestone for the Act Party, which now has 11 MPs.
He outlined his vision for the country at a celebratory brunch in Auckland.
Act leader David Seymour kicked off his stint as Deputy Prime Minister with a speech in Auckland, where he chronicled Act’s rise from a single MP to 11 – and attacked his political opponents, calling his party Labour’s “worst nightmare”.
Seymour takes over from New Zealand First leader Winston Peters,with the role of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s deputy being split between the two minor coalition parties.
Speaking to party members and supporters at a celebratory brunch in Auckland, Seymour said New Zealand could be “the Athens of the modern world” if it overcame problems and moved past the “underbelly of tall poppy”.
Seymour drove himself to the venue, the Hyundai Marine Sports Centre, on Auckland’s Tāmaki Drive. Pro-Palestine protesters chased his car as he pulled in.
“We can become ... a place where creative people are welcomed to move and invest, where they find themselves joining people who are already here who fundamentally believe the point of our country is to make success possible.”
David Seymour on Sunday outlined his vision for the country at a celebration brunch after being sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister on Saturday.
He thanked his MPs as well as his early supporters, including Dame Jenny Gibbs.
“Her generous support of Act is published by the Electoral Commission. But her personal support of successive Act leaders is not,” Seymour said.
“She’s one of the warmest and wisest women in New Zealand and we’re lucky to have her.”
“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.”
Dame Jenny Gibbs. Photo / Greg Bowker
It was a “happy miracle” his party even existed, adding there was no party in the world committed to human freedom as successful as Act, Seymour said.
The journey had, at times, “seemed bloody impossible”.
“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.”
Labour’s ‘worst nightmare’
Seymour took swipes at his political opponents, saying that while other politicians had sourced votes by “promising other people’s money, or promising to regulate other people’s choices”, Act had taken “the hard road”.
“We seek political power by promising voters only the freedom to make the most of their own lives.”
Seymour described his party as Labour’s “worse nightmare” and New Zealand’s “best hope”.
He quipped he got “so much free accommodation” from living in Labour MP Willie Jackson’s head. In a recent clash between the pair, Jackson was kicked out of the House for calling Seymour a liar during a heated debate on the Act leader’s controversial Treaty Principles Bill.
“I’m not going anywhere but ahead ... nearly every single press release from Labour, every fundraising email, every talking point, is about how dangerous David Seymour is,” Seymour said.
“To Labour, yes, I am dangerous, but only to you and your batty outriders.”
He described Labour as “lost” and said the Green Party had morphed into a party that “barely talks about the environment”.
“Once upon a time they wanted to sacrifice the economy for the environment, these days the Green Party want to sacrifice the economy for no reason at all.”
“Then there is the extraordinary spectre of a race-based political party that increasingly threatens violence to its opponents, tolerated by the media,” Seymour said, seemingly in reference to Te Pāti Māori.
Te Pāti Māori is among the fierce critics of Seymour’s policies, particularly the Treaty Principles Bill, which proposed replacing the many principles developed over decades by experts and the courts with three new ones decided on by Cabinet.
Three of their MPs have been in hot water recently for their involvement in a haka during the first reading of the bill, which has been viewed by hundreds of millions of people globally.
Act Party president John Windsor opened the brunch with a brief speech, saying there would now be a new seating arrangement in Parliament, meaning Seymour would be further away from the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, which can’t be “too bad”.
Swearing-in ceremony
Seymour was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister on Saturday at Government House in Auckland, taking over from Peters.
The Act leader was joined by family members, Luxon and Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro.
David Seymour (right) was joined by members of his family, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (centre) and Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro at the ceremony. Photo / Dean Purcell
Kiro congratulated Seymour and Luxon called it a “great privilege”.
“Not only for Seymour personally, but for the Act Party, which has grown from a caucus of one in 2014 to 11 MPs and seats at the Cabinet table in 2025.”
In a speech after the swearing-in ceremony, Seymour said he would be judged by how much was delivered for the people of New Zealand – “all of the people, those who support Act and those who don’t”.
“If I proved anything, it’s that anyone can dance, not always that well, but well enough to earn people’s respect and give a lot of entertainment along the way,” he said, in reference to his stint on Dancing With The Stars.
David Seymour is now Deputy Prime Minister. Photo / Dean Purcell
Seymour is the 21st person to hold New Zealand’s deputy prime ministership.
His predecessor, Peters, has held the role three times.
Several deputies have gone on to become Prime Minister, including Sir Keith Holyoake, Jack Marshall, Sir Robert Muldoon, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Helen Clark and Sir Bill English.
David Seymour is the 19th person to hold New Zealand’s deputy prime ministership. Photo / Dean Purcell
On the deputy prime ministership, Seymour told the Front Page this week: “It’s one of those things you probably didn’t think would happen in your life, but here we are.”
“I think it’s good for New Zealand. It shows if you’re a bit quirky but if your heart’s in the right place and you put in the work, as Crowded House say, ‘You can get somewhere’.”
Seymour was first elected to Parliament as MP for Epsom in 2014. The Act Party’s sole MP would become its leader. Just over a decade later, he sits beside 10 others after leading the party to its best result ever in the 2023 general election.
His latest tenure in the Beehive hasn’t come without controversy.
His Treaty Principles Bill, which Act heralded as a “promise of equal rights for all New Zealanders”, was fiercely criticised for its perceived impact on Māori rights.
Act Party leader David Seymour (right) takes over from New Zealand First leader Winston Peters (left) as New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister.
It was one of the drivers behind a massive hīkoi to Parliament in November, where tens of thousands of people rallied in protest. It received an unprecedented amount of public submissions, with more than 300,000 coming in.
Despite it being dead in the water at the start (his coalition partners had always intended to vote it down), Seymour said he was not at all surprised it created so much backlash.
This week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis claimed ignorance about the importance of the day to the Government on Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive show.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (left) and Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro (centre) with Seymour. Photo / Dean Purcell
Du Plessis-Allan told her it was the day Seymour became Deputy PM.
“You can imagine it is not marked as an enormous love heart on my calendar,” Willis said, claiming not much would change.
Du Plessis-Allan replied: “I want to say ‘stop pretending’ but I know you have to pretend because you have to work with the guy.”
