With jaw-dropping cynicism, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour and his ACT Party have plumbed new depths, trampling democratic values in their rush to ram through the Regulatory Standards Bill.
The right-wing government’s rush to force this contentious bill through under urgency, using AI to sift through 23,000 public submissions, isn’t just an affront to democracy, it’s a deliberate ploy to silence New Zealanders’ voices.
Seymour’s baseless claim that 99.5% of submissions are bot-generated is also a shameless dodge to dismiss overwhelming opposition. With the Ministry for Regulation’s summary showing 88% of the 23,000 submissions rejecting his reckless bill, this tactic is not just absurd, it’s a brazen assault on democracy, exposing a government hell-bent on its neoliberal agenda over honest engagement with voters.
Yesterday, RNZ reported:
In an at-times heated exchange with Guyon Espiner, Seymour stood firm on the need for regulatory reform despite New Zealand's high international rankings in governance and legal standards.
Espiner pointed out that New Zealand ranks 99 out of 100 for regulatory quality in the World Bank index, placing it just behind the global benchmark.
Seymour dismissed the ranking, arguing it measured whether a country is "basically a third-world country" and failed to capture the real-world frustrations faced by businesses, particularly in agriculture and construction.
However, Espiner highlighted that of the 23,000 total submissions, only 76 supported the bill - a support rate of just 0.33 percent.
Seymour dismissed the figure as misleading.
"That quantum reflects nothing more than the fact that it's got easier and easier for people to make really, frankly, fake submissions … They've got bots, they can make a submission."
Despite dismissing the opposing voices as fake, Seymour maintained that what mattered was not the opposition but the quality of the legislative framework, which is non-binding in its nature, thus not enforceable - despite the bill's $20 million price-tag.
Seymour argued the Regulatory Standards Bill was about transparency, not enforcement. He compared it to the Public Finance Act and the Reserve Bank Act - also non-binding in nature, but important for government accountability.
Seymour’s cries of “bots” in the submission process are laughably hypocritical, given his own digital sleight-of-hand. In 2020, his Instagram account ballooned overnight with thousands of faceless, inactive followers, clear hallmarks of bot-driven inflation. His deflection then, blaming Meta while offering no proof, mirrors his current dodge, exposing a pattern of deceit.
When questioned about this, Seymour deflected, claiming ignorance and demanding answers from Meta. However, no credible explanation followed. This convenient amnesia undermines his credibility to cry “bots” now, exposing a double standard that cannot be ignored.
Deploying AI to cherry-pick just 1,000 of 23,000 submissions—likely discarding the rest as “spurious”—guts New Zealand’s democratic process. As Labour’s Duncan Webb rightly slammed, this “coalition of chaos” renders public input a hollow sham.
Seymour’s assertion that the “quality of ideas” matters more than quantity is a thinly veiled excuse to ignore the 88% submissions in opposition, prioritising his deregulatory zeal over public interest. This approach, coupled with the bill’s rushed first reading under urgency, reeks of a government determined to steamroll their agenda through while gaslighting voters.
Seymour’s cozy ties to the Atlas Network, a billionaire-funded libertarian think tank, taint his fitness as Deputy Prime Minister. His pre-parliamentary training with Atlas-linked Canadian think tanks and ACT’s murky connections, fueled by donors like Alan Gibbs, whose daughter chairs Atlas meetings, betray an allegiance to corporate interests over New Zealand’s common good.
The Regulatory Standards Bill, with its focus on property rights over collective goods like environmental protections or Treaty obligations, mirrors the Atlas Network’s playbook of prioritising profit over people.
Such affiliations, which Seymour has lied about despite well documented ties, should disqualify him from wielding influence over such legislation that could reshape New Zealand’s regulatory landscape.
Seymour's charade isn't just undemocratic, it’s a betrayal of the public’s trust. By dismissing the vast number of submissions that are opposing this bill as bot-driven and outsourcing their analysis to AI, Seymour and his coalition partners reveal their contempt for the democratic process, a contempt that is undermining public opinion in our house of representatives.
New Zealanders deserve better than a Deputy Prime Minister who scorns their voices while bowing to global corporate puppeteers. The Regulatory Standards Bill, like Seymour’s leadership, is a glaring red flag of autocratic drift. His gaslighting of public submissions isn’t just an assault on democracy...it’s an abuse of power that demands fierce resistance.
