David Seymour Wanted Civil War in New Zealand

David Seymour has built a career on stirring up resentments, but his latest antics are a step too far. The Mata Reports documentary, aired earlier this month, lays bare Seymour’s calculated brand of divisive politics, exposing a man who seems to relish the chaos his policies could unleash. Worse, it shows he’s fully aware that his divisive policies, particularly in regards to the Treaty Principles Bill, could push New Zealand toward civil war. Despite this, Seymour barrels forward anyway with his anti-Maori legislation. This isn’t just reckless; it’s a betrayal of the unity NZ was founded on that politicians should be promoting.

Seymour’s campaign against co-governance, a lightning rod in the 2023 election, was less about principle and more about political point-scoring. Mata’s investigation, through the eyes of a former ACT insider, reveals Seymour’s deep ties to the libertarian Atlas Network, a global outfit with a track record of sowing discord under the guise of “freedom.”

His Treaty Principles Bill, which sought to erase Māori partnership rights from legal frameworks, wasn’t just a policy, it was a racist dog whistle, designed to inflame tensions and rally an anti-Māori voter base. Former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley warned in 2023 that this bill was “inviting civil war,” a sentiment ignored by current National MP Chris Luxon, but echoed in Mihingarangi Forbes' chilling footage where Seymour appears to shrug off the prospect of violent unrest and his previous statements acknowledging that he wanted the Treaty Principles Bill to cause a civil war.


In November 2024, RNZ reported:

 

Treaty Principles Bill 'inviting civil war', Jenny Shipley says

Dame Jenny said past attempts to codify Treaty principles in law had failed.

"While there have been principles leaked into individual statutes, we have never attempted to - in a formal sense - put principles in or over top of the Treaty as a collective. And I caution New Zealand - the minute you put the Treaty into a political framework in its totality, you are inviting civil war.

"I would fight against it. Māori have every reason to fight against it.

"This is a relationship we committed to where we would try and find a way to govern forward. We would respect each other's land and interests rights, and we would try and be citizens together - and actually, we are making outstanding progress, and this sort of malicious,politically motivated, fundraising-motivated attempt to politicise the Treaty in a new way should raise people's voices, because it is not in New Zealand's immediate interest.

The hypocrisy is staggering. Seymour cloaks his agenda in calls for “equality,” preaching that all New Zealanders deserve the same rights. Yet, his actions, like scrapping the Māori Health Authority or joking about bombing the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, target marginalised communities with surgical precision.

Mata shows him lying on camera, dodging accountability when confronted with evidence of his inflammatory rhetoric. His dismissal of Canada’s residential school genocide as overblown further exposes a callous disregard for historical trauma, aligning him with Atlas Network’s playbook.

Here's a Canadian-accented David Seymour arguing against funding public transport on behalf of Atlas Network partner & climate change denialists, Frontier Centre for Public Policy. https://t.co/w7pzpwkzeD pic.twitter.com/o0bNDbVbO9

— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) February 26, 2024

This isn’t new for Seymour. Back in January 2023, his campaign launch was an excercise in negative campaigning, using Māori and beneficiaries as political punching bags. Some journalists called it “disruption and division,” and they weren’t wrong. Seymour denied he was race-baiting, but his rhetoric, painting co-governance as undemocratic, deepened mistrust.

The Mata documentary pulls no punches, exposing a “culture of fear” within ACT and allegations of sexism and whistleblower suppression. Seymour’s authoritarian streak, masked by his libertarian posturing, is a warning sign. He knows his policies could fracture New Zealand, potentially to the point of violence, yet he persists, gambling with our social fabric for his political gain. This isn’t leadership; it’s political opportunism that could destroy our country.

New Zealand deserves better. We need leaders who bridge divides, not widen them. Seymour’s gamble with civil unrest isn’t just a policy misstep, it’s an unacceptable moral failure. Voters should reject his divisive playbook and demand policies that unite us, not ones that risks tearing us apart.

The Coalition of Chaos: Democracy Be Damned

The New Zealand coalition government, a Frankenstein’s monster of National, ACT, and NZ First, has once again shown its utter contempt for our democracy. This time it's the Ministry for Regulation, who didn’t even bother to read thousands of submissions on the Regulatory Standards Bill, a piece of legislation so insidious it’s been dubbed a “backdoor rewrite” of New Zealand’s founding document. This follows hot on the heels of the coalition of chaos’ dismissal of overwhelming public opposition to ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill. It’s a pattern of arrogance so profound that it's eroding the very foundations of our democratic process.

Let’s start with the Regulatory Standards Bill. Newsroom reports that of the 23,000 submissions received, a staggering number were left unread by the Ministry, with ACT’s David Seymour shrugging off the 99.67% opposition as “off-topic.” This isn’t just negligence; it’s a deliberate middle finger to the voting public. These submissions weren’t spam...they were the voices of everyday New Zealanders, including 114 submissions from iwi/hapū, raising serious concerns about the bill’s failure to uphold Te Tiriti obligations.

The Waitangi Tribunal called for an immediate halt, citing breaches of Treaty principles, but Seymour dismissed them as a “parallel government.” This is the same playbook used with the Treaty Principles Bill, where the Justice Select Committee admitted 97% of submissions opposed it, yet the coalition plowed ahead, reopening submissions to dilute the backlash after their undemocratic tactics were revealed. It’s a cynical ploy to wear down dissent while pretending to listen.


Today, Newsroom reported:

Thousands of Regulatory Standards Bill submissions not read by ministry

David Seymour said ‘there just weren’t that many’ worthwhile ideas in the 23,000 submissions on his proposed legislation

The majority of the 22,821 submissions on last year's consultation on a potential Regulatory Standards Bill weren't even read by the Ministry for Regulation before proposals on next steps were taken to Cabinet.

The article by Marc Daalder is not accessible to the general public, raising the question: Are our mainstream media outlets truly committed to informing voters about the government’s undemocratic decision-making?

Unfortunately this type of fascist move isn’t an isolated incident either...it’s a feature of this coalition’s arrogant and out of touch governance. Take the Pay Equity Amendment Bill, rammed through under urgency in a mere 48 hours with no select committee, no public submissions, and no consultation with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Thirty-three claims affecting thousands of workers were scrapped overnight, disproportionately harming low-paid women. The secrecy and speed reek of a government terrified of scrutiny, and the Prime Minister’s accusations of “scaremongering” only underline their disdain for accountability.

Then there’s the Fast-track legislation, a love letter to extractive industries that sidelines environmental protections and public input. Māori rights group Toitū te Tiriti warned that the Regulatory Standards Bill could wipe Treaty clauses from law, yet the coalition presses on, undeterred by 18,000 signatures and a huge hīkoi protesting similar anti-Treaty moves. Even coalition partner Winston Peters, sensing the weight of public opinion, has raised concerns. But don’t hold your breath for National to rein in ACT’s neoliberal over-reach. They are waiting to see if they can undermine our democracy and get away with it.

This coalition of chaos treats public opinion like an inconvenience. They cherry-pick submissions, bypass due process, and govern by ambush, all while cloaking their insidious actions in a veil of culture wars and dishonest rhetoric about “transparency” and “economic efficiency.” Seymour’s claim that the Regulatory Standards Bill will “cut red tape” is a thinly veiled excuse to entrench ACT’s ideology at the expense of Māori rights and public input.

New Zealand deserves better than a government that listens only to its own echo chamber. It’s time to call this what it is: a betrayal of democracy. We must continue to resist, organise, and demand accountability before this coalition of chaos dismantles everything we hold dear.

Bob Jones - old racist prick!

So the guy who advocated for public burning and beheading feels offended because someone called him a racist!

Perhaps Bob Jones hasn't heard of the very old saying; Live by the sword, die by the sword?

I mean for someone who often writes opinionated nonsense about Maori; this is a ridiculous case to take and a complete waste of court time.


Yesterday, 1 News reported:

Debate about what constitutes racism as Sir Bob Jones defamation case continues 

Debate about what constitutes racism has been at the centre of day three of Sir Bob Jones’ defamation case in the Hight Court in Wellington. 

Sir Bob, one of the country’s richest people, is suing filmmaker Renae Maihi for defamation, accusing her of calling him a racist, the author of hate speech and saying he was unfit to hold a knighthood. 

Ms Maihi started an online petition in 2018 calling for Sir Bob to be stripped of his knighthood after he wrote a controversial National Business Review column. 

In it, he called for Waitangi Day to be replaced with ‘Māori Gratitude Day’, arguing that without British immigration Māori would not be alive today. The property tycoon said the column was harmless joking and the start of a satirical series about gratitude days.

I’m not sure why 1 News cut Jones’ racist rant short. Here’s a small excerpt of his prejudicial drivel that was published by the National Business Review:

I have in mind a public holiday where Maoris bring us breakfast in bed or weed our gardens, wash & polish our cars & so on, out of gratitude for existing. And if any Maori tries arguing that if he/she didn't have a slight infection of Irish blood or whatever, they might be better for it, the answer is no sunshine."

So just to clarify, Bob Jones wants a return to slavery. It pains me to have to point this out but what Jones is saying isn’t satire. In reality his offensive idea is an attack on indigenous people from all around the world. Only a truly intolerant fool would promote a return to the bad old days of slavery and only an equally racist editor would put such decrepit ideas to print.

But now that someone has called Jones out on his racism, he doesn’t like free speech?

Clearly Renae Maihi was just saying and acting on what everybody else was thinking. Jones is a racist and racists simply shouldn’t be knighted in the first place. If by some idiocy, like the size of their bank accounts, they are knighted and continue to promote bigoted ideas, they should lose their award without any further ceremony.

That’s why at time of writing nearly 90,000 people have signed the Revoke racist "Sir" Bob Jones of his Knighthood petition. Over a thousand people have donated more than $40,000 to help Maihi’s considerable court costs as well.

One thing that racists often do is disregard indigenous people’s rights, culture and identity. Jones does this all the time and should therefore be considered a racist. If he’s not mocking Maori for their circumstances or appearance, he’s belittling Maori culture in some of the most widely read syndications in New Zealand.

Jones knows that the controversy he creates by claiming things like Maori are blackmailing the Crown with the Treaty of Waitangi, which is in fact a signed contract, ensures his articles attain significant readership. He also knows that having his divisive views appear as relevant commentary emboldens other racists.

Acrimonious old fools like Jones shouldn’t be promoted as being relevant. Their hatred simply shouldn't be published in the first place. If they are then it's the publics right to treat them with the contempt they deserve. But until such divisiveness ends New Zealand cannot hope to create a more inclusive and equal society.