Whether it\u2019s pay equity or the Waitangi Tribunal review, the person most committed to combatting government PR is government minister David Seymour.<\/p>\n
Summer read \u2013 originally published May 13 2025. <\/p>\n
When National moved to put an end to 33 fair pay claims for low-income women, it was adamant the move wasn\u2019t about rescuing finance minister Nicola Willis\u2019s upcoming budget. Prime minister Chris Luxon seemed annoyed at the suggestion of monetary motivations in a press run last Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019s got nothing to do with the budget, this is about making sure we have a piece of legislation that is incredibly workable, and not as complex as it has been,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Willis repeated the denial both in parliament and at a press standup alongside an honour guard of women.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t be accused of selling out women if you have several women nearby.<\/p>\n
More credulous observers may have been taken in by these assurances. Listening to National\u2019s senior ministers, this wasn\u2019t a case of low-income women paying for general tax cuts and interest write-offs for landlords; it was just a surprise effort to clear up some administrative issues under urgency with no public feedback, weeks out from an uncomfortably tight budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for National, its coalition partner Act was having none of that cynical government spin. Incoming deputy prime minister David Seymour was determined to pierce the PR puffery, assuring reporters Van Velden had absolutely bailed National out of having to spend money on stuff like fair wages for childcare workers and hospice nurses. \u201cI actually think that Brooke van Velden has saved the taxpayer billions,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s saved the budget for the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
These Act Party corrections have become common. Media organisations like to say they can cut through spin like Aragorn\u2019s sword And\u00faril through orc flesh, but few of them demolish government messaging more brutally than the second-largest party in the government.<\/p>\n
Put out an anodyne press release or make a staid announcement, and Act will give it the Obama anger translator treatment<\/a>. On Friday, M\u0101ori affairs minister Tama Potaka revealed plans to review the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 and the Waitangi Tribunal<\/a>. The move, in his words, was about taking a load off our Tribunal members after years of hard work. \u201cGiven the progress of historical claims and settlements and concerns about the Tribunal\u2019s current workload, it is timely to review the legislation that determines how it undertakes its inquiries.\u201d<\/p>\n That sentence is almost boring enough to avoid adding to the anger over efforts to pare back Treaty redress. Potaka might have got away with it too, if it wasn\u2019t for those meddling libertarians. On his Facebook page, Seymour explained the true purpose of the review. \u201cWe\u2019re reining in the activist Waitangi Tribunal,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s time to put the Tribunal in its place.\u201d<\/p>\n Act\u2019s spin-killing efforts are, if anything, ramping up. Its statement on the Waitangi Tribunal review marked the third time in a week it lobbed a truth bomb into the National caucus room. Luxon had spent the Friday prior denying Seymour\u2019s claim he oversees<\/a> a \u201cbloated\u201d ministerial lineup filled with \u201cmeaningless titles\u201d. Once again Act\u2019s claims were more convincing to the commentators. Former National minister Chris Finlayson took its side, saying ministerial baubles are given out to placate unimpressive talents in smaller coalition parties such as Act.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n