Listen to The Country online: Acting PM David Seymour co-hosts with Jamie Mackay
On with the show:
David Seymour:
The Act Leader and Acting Prime Minister, 'Deputy Dave', joins us in the studio.
We talk about the 2025 FMG
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RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Labour hits back at Seymour's claim NZ is still 'digesting' Covid-19 pandemic 'hangover'
Labour's acting finance spokesperson Megan Woods. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The Acting Prime Minister says New Zealand is still "digesting" a Covid-19 pandemic "hangover", but Labour says that's not what he had to say when he was in opposition. David Seymour made the comments on Wednesday after responding to the Reserve Bank's decision to keep the official cash rate steady , saying "these are tough times". "We've beaten the inflation, but the prices are still high and the interest rates are still to come down. "I would say that we're moving in the right direction, but that doesn't alleviate the pain that people are still feeling, so we own and acknowledge that." It was pointed out to Seymour it had been five years since the global pandemic, and was asked when he expected the country to be over the hangover. Seymour replied it had only been "just over three years since all the restrictions were lifted". "We still had a border closed at the start of 2022 and we still had restrictions in place almost to mid-2022 so it's only three years since life's been back to normal in the formal sense. "However, we've still had enormous challenges with inflation." But he pointed out inflation had dropped in the time the current government had been in power. "When this government was elected at the end of 2024 that was five and a half percent. Now it's two and a half. "When we were elected, we'd had an official cash rate at five and a quarter. Now it's three and a quarter." He said the country was still "on the transition away from Covid-era to more normal times when growth can resume". "That's kind of the transmission of that hangover." Acting Prime Minister David Seymour. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone He referenced the Covid inquiry hearing where Northland's local business association said the impacts of being cut off from the rest of the country during the third lockdown were still being felt. "Northland perhaps had it harder than anyone through that period, and they themselves are saying, we still have a hangover." In response, Labour's acting finance spokesperson Megan Woods said she did not hear Seymour or Nicola Willis acknowledging Covid had an impact on the economy when they were in opposition. In a general debate speech in May 2023, Seymour - then in opposition - criticised the Labour goverment's spending choices on health and education. He argued there had been an increase in spending with a lack of results to show for it. "I predict if this Labour government is re-elected with its Māori Party and Green Party crutches - heaven forbid - they'll be blaming Covid through to the next decade. "But the truth is that the pandemic's over." Woods said it was "somewhat surprising to hear them now claiming that that is the cause of the economy that they are presiding over". She said the government could be doing "so much more". "At the very time that we're seeing people struggle to find work, we're seeing a government that has scaled back on its own building program, for example, and it's no surprise we're seeing construction jobs disappear and those workers leave New Zealand." She said the whole government needed to "front up" and "do the job they were elected to do". "That is making sure there are good jobs for Kiwis, providing that cost of living relief for Kiwi families, and we're just not seeing that." On the OCR announcement, Woods said it was not "particularly surprising" there was no change and that it was clear the Reserve Bank was expecting inflation to increase, particularly around food prices. "It's absolutely the case there is uncertainty out there, but what we're seeing is the Reserve Bank doing the job that the government isn't doing to provide support for families. There is more the government could be doing that they're not ... we're seeing jobs like construction jobs disappear." She said the Family Boost policy had been an "utter failure" and the changes to the scheme would not be reaching New Zealanders' pockets until October. "Two years into this government, this is something that was promised as an election promise, we're seeing that it has failed in its first iteration so if that is all the government can point to as its success story, I think we can see what a dismal job the government is doing to help Kiwi families with cost of living." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
4 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Deputy PM ‘in awe' of work done at city tech firm
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has praised a Dunedin robotics company as being "at the forefront of world technology". The Act New Zealand leader — who is also acting prime minister this week — was in Dunedin yesterday and visited local businesses including the Otago Childcare Centre, Progressive Plastics and Scott Technology. Speaking to the media after touring the automation and robotics solutions provider's factory, Mr Seymour said he was "in awe" of what the people at Scott Technology were doing. "They have robotic knives that can strip a sheep's carcass in six seconds, and to think that is happening here in Dunedin ... what they are doing is absolutely at the forefront of world technology." Mr Seymour, who has a degree in electrical engineering, said the company's digital signal processing involved some of the hardest mathematics you could do. The integration of abstract mathematical modelling and robotic programming showed "incredible teamwork". "To have, at one level, your nerds, if you like, and at another level your tradies working together to create one project ... I think that's very, very cool." Comments he had heard during his visit included on the speed at which parts had been able to be ordered and delivered before the Covid-19 pandemic. Global supply chains had been stretched and interrupted by the pandemic as well as global trade uncertainty, and New Zealand needed more capital equipment, capacity and money being laid down, he said. Anything that allowed businesses to do that more easily was very important, he said. Both Scott Technology and Progressive Plastics benefited "substantially" from foreign direct investment — something he believed the country needed to welcome more of. Watching a demonstration of Scott Technology's BladeStop safety bandsaw on the factory floor are (from left) Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, general manager Andrew Arnold, service technician James Still and chief executive Mike Christman. Photo: Peter McIntosh The Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced yesterday the official cash rate (OCR) would remain at 3.25%, marking a pause in a series of six consecutive cuts since August last year. In a statement, the Reserve Bank said annual consumers' price inflation would likely increase towards the top of the 1% to 3% target band over mid-2025. But due to spare productive capacity in the economy and declining domestic inflation pressures headline inflation was expected to remain within this band and return to around 2% by early next year. The economic outlook remained "highly uncertain", and further data including on the impacts of tariffs would influence the future path of the OCR, the statement said. Mr Seymour said concerns about headline inflation were being heard around the world. "You see the Australians, they cut hard, then they had a rebound, and then they started cutting again. "In New Zealand, we haven't had to do that. "Far better to be falling, pausing and hopefully falling again, than having to go back for a second look, as other countries have had to." When asked about the role uncertainty around United States tariffs may have played in the Reserve Bank's decision, Mr Seymour said he had "no doubt" the bank was looking at international factors. "I think anyone who's done even five minutes of economics will know that our trade as a trading nation is critical to the prices we see, and they'll be sensitive to that."
Otago Daily Times
4 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
‘Not welcome here': dozens protest Seymour visit
About 100 demonstrators chanted outside a central Dunedin hotel where Acting Prime Minister David Seymour hosted a public meeting last night. They were heard yelling for the Act New Zealand leader to "bugger off" and that he was "not welcome here". The protest was organised by the International Socialist Organisation and included a variety of groups who were vocal about issues including the Regulatory Standards Bill, pay parity, worker rights, Māori rights and the environment. The protest took place outside the Distinction Dunedin Hotel where Act hosted a public meeting with Mr Seymour at 6pm. Police warned advancing demonstrators to stay away from the front of the hotel in Liverpool St and to stick to the footpath. The police guard the Liverpool St entrance to the Distinction Hotel as protesters demonstrate outside against Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour. Photos: Peter McIntosh The protesters marched a loop around the building to make sure they were heard by Mr Seymour. Protest organiser Oscar Bartle said Mr Seymour should be ashamed of himself. "How can you live with yourself when you're destroying working-class livelihoods." Mr Bartle said the crowd had gathered on short notice to oppose Mr Seymour scraping fair-pay agreements, his silence on the genocide in Palestine and his pushing of the Regulatory Standards Bill. Mr Bartle said the Bill was nonsense. David Seymour. "It's capturing regulation in the country for the rich and powerful, it's disgraceful." Otago Staff and Students for Palestine, Green Party supporters and unionists were present at the protest. Mr Seymour had previously said the principles of the Bill "focused the effect of legislation on existing interests and liberties". "In a high-cost economy, regulation isn't neutral — it's a tax on growth. "This government is committed to clearing the path of needless regulations by improving how laws are made." — additional reporting RNZ
