
Vineeta Rao
Auckland, January 25, 2025
ACT Party Leader David Seymour made the most of his time during his State of the Nation Address on January 25 at the Akarana Event Centre in Auckland by throwing open the privatisation debate.
Mr Seymour, who will become Deputy Prime Minister (taking over from Winston Peters) on May 31, 2025 under the Coalition Government Agreement is the Minister of Regulation and Associate Minister of Education, Finance, Health and Science.
He began his Address by acknowledging the work of his Deputy Leader (and Workplace Relations & Safety and Internal Affairs Minister) Brooke van Velden, fellow Ministers Nicole McKee (Courts), Andrew Hoggard (Biosecurity and Food Safety), Karen Chhour (Children and Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence) and Simon Court (Parliamentary Undersecretary for Infrastructure and RMA Reform).
“At 32, Brooke van Velden is the biggest future in New Zealand politics,” Mr Seymour said.
He also acknowledged his fellow MPs Todd Stevenson, Mark Cameron, Dr Parmjit Parmar, Laura McClure and Cameron Luxton and their active participation in Parliament and Select Committees.
Healthcare Allowance
Mr Seymour said that the government spent an average of $6000 per citizen on healthcare and asked whether people should be allowed to ‘take their portion of funding.’
He proposed allowing Kiwis to opt out of the public health system by allowing an annual payment of $6000 that they could apply towards private health insurance instead.
“We need to get past squeamishness about privatisation and ask a simple question: If we want to be a first-world country, then are we making the best use of the government’s half-a-trillion dollars plus worth of assets? If something is not getting a return, the government should sell it so that we can afford to buy something that does,” he said.
Reiterating the ACT policy platform, Mr Seymour asked, “How many people here would give up their right to the public healthcare system if they got $6000 for their own private insurance?”
He proposed a similar scheme for Education, stating that each citizen had a lifetime spend of $333,000 which they should be able to spend in a way that brought maximum return.
“Instead of spending next year because we did it this year, we need to ask ourselves: If we want to remain a First-World country, then do New Zealanders get a return on this spending that justifies taking the money off taxpayers in the first place?”

Public Assets
On publicly owned assets, Mr Seymour said, “The one thing we know from state houses, hospital projects, and farms with high levels of animal death, is that the government is hopeless at owning things.”
As for the State’s public housing stock, he said, “The government does not need to own a home to house someone” and that “the KiwiBuild and Kāinga Ora debacles show the government should do as little in housing as possible.”
The ACT Party may have to bide its time on this matter as earlier this week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon ruled out asset sales during this term of government.
However, Mr Seymour’s comments about privatisation drew criticism from the Public Service Union National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.
She said that such action “inevitably means syphoning money off from providing services for all to pay profits to private corporations.”
“Assets sales have been tried and failed in New Zealand. The only winners are private companies. Public services and assets belong to all of us and are there to deliver for people and not shareholders,” she said.
Mr Seymour also painted a picture of the country’s social divide, describing a battle between “change makers” and those seeking “a majority for mediocrity.”
He quoted migration figures saying, “A new generation looks at the housing market and sees little hope. Imagine that you are someone who has done it all right, you listened to your teacher and did your homework. You studied for a tertiary education as everyone told you. Now you have $34,000 in debt, you start on $60,000, and you see the average house is 900,000 or fifteen times your (before tax) income.”
“Nobody can blame a young person for wondering if they are not better off overseas. Many decide they are. New Zealanders who leave for Australia are tipping us towards a majority for mediocrity. Motivated New Zealanders leaving is good news for the shoplifters, conspiracy theorists, and hollow men who make up the political opposition. A few more good people leaving is all they need for their majority of mediocrity. The more that aspirational, hardworking people get up and leave New Zealand, the more likely it is we will get left-wing governments in the future,” he said.
On his controversial Treaty Principles Bill, Mr Seymour said, “It may still succeed this time, or it may be one of those bills that simply breaks the ground so something like it can proceed in the future.”
Mr Seymour asked New Zealanders to consider the alternatives to government ownership, government spending and private responsibility.
“The government is doing many things that will change how it operates. There is a drive to reduce waste. There is a drive to get more money from overseas investment. The Regulatory Standards Bill will change how we regulate. The Resource Management Act is being replaced. Anti-Money Laundering Laws are being simplified. Charter Schools are opening, more roads are being built. These are all good things.
“Our country has always been the site of a battle between two tribes. The effect of emigration, and the world faced by young New Zealanders risks creating a permanent majority for mediocrity. Our country is at a tipping point. We need honest conversations about why the government spends, owns, and regulates, and whether those policies are good enough to secure our future as a First-World Nation,” he said.
Vineeta Rao is an Indian Newslink Reporter based in Auckland.