{"id":302376,"date":"2026-02-26T02:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/302376\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T02:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:22:12","slug":"act-leader-david-seymour-slams-degenerate-owners-of-attacking-dogs-as-he-warns-councils-of-knee-jerk-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/302376\/","title":{"rendered":"Act leader David Seymour slams \u2018degenerate\u2019 owners of attacking dogs as he warns councils of knee-jerk regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said he believed owners of dogs that commit fatal attacks should be charged with manslaughter, claiming they were \u201cfacilitating murder\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">Seymour today spoke to council representatives at the All of Local Government conference about the extent of regulation when he referenced the attack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cBluntly, the dogs causing issues are likely owned by gangs and degenerates \u2013 people who already ignore the rules,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cCouncils would be wise not to perform any knee-jerk regulating that actually just puts more cost or burden on the good dog owners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img  alt=\"Act leader David Seymour is encouraging mayors to buy into the Regulatory Standards Act intent. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell \" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Act leader David Seymour is encouraging mayors to buy into the Regulatory Standards Act intent. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell <\/p>\n<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">It was one of several examples Seymour used to illustrate the usefulness of the Regulatory Standards Act, which, among other functions, would require councils to publish \u201cConsistency Accountability Statements\u201d alongside new or changing bylaws.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">The statements were intended to outline how new or changed bylaws affected \u201ccitizens\u2019 liberties and property rights\u201d, to inform ratepayers of the benefits and costs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">Seymour dismissed any concerns that the statements would be a drag on council resources.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cCouncils somehow find time to make declarations about foreign wars and climate change, invest in relationships with sister cities with no benefit to 99.9% of their ratepayers, ban sugary advertising, and find time to reinvent themselves as Tiriti-centric organisations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIf your council can\u2019t explain why a bylaw is necessary, can\u2019t show it\u2019s proportionate, and can\u2019t justify the costs it imposes, then maybe it should be harder to pass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"hVvnDVwvKaDCbCnNag\" style=\"display:none\">Adam Pearse is the deputy political editor and part of the NZ Herald\u2019s press gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whang\u0101rei and the Herald in Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said he believed owners of dogs that commit fatal attacks should be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4619,9092,806,89,155261,10712,7558,6284,165822,165824,9213,11784,63975,692,165823,13489,120,111,43,139,1067,69,1118,7497,9769,640,30637,5034,16797,19993,1455,8218],"class_list":{"0":"post-302376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-act","9":"tag-against","10":"tag-as","11":"tag-attack","12":"tag-attacking","13":"tag-claiming","14":"tag-councils","15":"tag-david","16":"tag-degenerate","17":"tag-degenerates","18":"tag-dogs","19":"tag-fatal","20":"tag-gangs","21":"tag-he","22":"tag-kneejerk","23":"tag-leader","24":"tag-likely","25":"tag-new-zealand","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-newzealand","28":"tag-northland","29":"tag-nz","30":"tag-of","31":"tag-owned","32":"tag-owners","33":"tag-regulation","34":"tag-regulations","35":"tag-response","36":"tag-seymour","37":"tag-slams","38":"tag-warning","39":"tag-warns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}