SYDNEY: David Seymour, leader of the libertarian ACT New Zealand party, was sworn in as deputy prime minister on Saturday, taking the role from Winston Peters in a deal struck when the three-party coalition government was formed in 2023.
His party was behind last year’s controversial move to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that it says discriminates against non-Indigenous citizens, though the bill failed in parliament.
Seymour was appointed in a ceremony at Auckland’s Government House, a spokesperson told Reuters.
ACT New Zealand is the junior partner in the centre-right ruling coalition that also includes the Peters-led New Zealand First and the National Party, led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
In parliament since 2014, Seymour will retain the role of regulation minister, tasked to assess rules in the Pacific nation of 5.3 million and keep the position of associate minister of health, finance, and education.
Seymour has also driven efforts to legalise euthanasia, voted to legalise abortion in 2020 and attended a pro-Hong Kong democracy protest in Auckland in 2019.
ACT New Zealand wants a smaller role for government and a bigger role for free markets, it says on its website.
