Why David Seymour’s summer break included a meeting with Argentina’s President and his gold-plated chainsaw

Act leader David Seymour and his partner Alexandra Vincent Martelli (left) meet with Argentina's President Javier Milei and Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno. Photo / Supplied

Having a catch-up with a prominent world leader during the summer break doesn’t normally feature in people’s holiday plans.

However, that was the case for Act leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, who had an almost hour-long meeting with Argentinian President Javier Milei during a South American sojourn with his partner, Alexandra Vincent Martelli.

Milei, a self-described libertarian like Seymour, was elected President in 2023 after campaigning on significant reductions in public spending and promoting free market reform.

Early in his presidency, Milei cut in half the number of government ministries, devalued Argentina’s peso by 50% and reduced state fuel subsidies; which all helped turn Argentina’s fiscal deficit into a surplus in April 2024.

Seymour, who advocated for smaller government alongside reduced spending, said he had admired Milei’s policies and inquired whether a meeting was possible while in Argentina.

“I had some contacts through an old think tank buddy who knew the person in the think tank over there that has been partial to part of [Milei’s] rise, so anyway, they said, ‘oh yeah, I’ll ask the President’, and [I] got a WhatsApp message from his [senior private secretary].”

Upon arriving at the gates of the iconic Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires on December 31 and informing security of his meeting with Milei, Seymour said he was met with a high degree of scepticism before he was eventually granted access.

In a conversation that lasted a “bit under an hour”, Seymour chatted with Milei with the help of a translator. Also sitting in were Martelli and Argentina’s Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno.

“I had about 20 minutes on favourite economists because he’s actually a published academic economist in his own right,” Seymour said.

“And we just chatted about his strategy, and I think one of the things that really struck me was humility … he said, ‘look, Covid upset a lot of people and that and some economic mismanagement made it possible to have a libertarian President, it wouldn’t be possible normally’.

“Most politicians around the world would say, ‘it’s because I’m awesome’, so I was impressed by that answer.”

Asked if Milei’s campaign contained any lessons for Act, Seymour claimed it proved bold policies could deliver electoral success.

“If you look at his programme: halved the number of government departments, cut spending by 30%, balanced the budget for the first time in decades, and was handsomely rewarded at the midterms, so that was quite impressive and he’s also just having a lot of fun doing it.”

Seymour pointed to similarities with Act’s 2023 campaign, but also noted Argentina’s population seemed more prepared to consider more drastic reform through the challenges the country faced.

The Act leader did not turn up empty-handed to his presidential meet-and-greet, offering an All Blacks jersey to Milei as a gift, which Seymour claimed was well-received.

A photo posted to Seymour’s social media shows the five of them around a table with a large gold-plated chainsaw at the other end, a symbol of Milei’s desire to cut spending.

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.