National would be “very unwise” to push ahead with a social media ban on under-16-year-olds “at the expense of coalition unity”, ACT leader David Seymour says.<\/p>\n
NZ First leader Winston Peters agrees, calling that course of action a “seriously big mistake”.<\/p>\n
The comments came on Tuesday, after the minister in charge National’s Erica Stanford told reporters she was ready to take her proposal to Cabinet and would be doing so “soon”.<\/p>\n
Stanford said she would take legislation before her colleagues for a “fulsome discussion” and see what happened.<\/p>\n
“I’m not going to presuppose what happens at Cabinet. The prime minister will manage that,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. People make different decisions at select committees and Cabinet. That’s the whole process.”<\/p>\n
Both ACT and New Zealand First have indicated their strong opposition to the proposal.<\/p>\n
But National is also holding briefings with the opposition Labour Party. Between the two of them, National and Labour would have a clear majority in Parliament to pass legislation.<\/p>\n
Seymour said National would be making a “mistake” if it ignored two of the three parties in the coalition and a third of Cabinet ministers.<\/p>\n
“At this point, we really need to be presenting a united front,” Seymour said.<\/p>\n
“For one party to pursue a policy important to them at the expense of coalition unity would be very unwise.”<\/p>\n
Asked whether ACT would “agree to disagree” on the policy, Seymour suggested that National should be the one to do so.<\/p>\n
“If you got two parties out of three saying no, it’s not a matter of agree to disagree. It’s actually the third party that agrees to disagree.”<\/p>\n
As for National’s discussions with Labour, Seymour quipped: “It’s not illegal, but… I wouldn’t advise it.”<\/p>\n
Peters said Seymour’s argument had merit, especially given the proximity of the election.<\/p>\n
He said while National could theoretically carry on, that would be a “seriously big mistake”.<\/p>\n
“We think that common sense might prevail. Can’t… the National Party see now that they’re making a mistake? Surely.”<\/p>\n