David Seymour has taken over from Winston Peters as deputy prime minister.
A ceremony marking the ACT leader’s transition took place at noon at Government House in Auckland.
Seymour vowed to keep speaking freely, as he takes over the role at the halfway point of the current Government.
He said the transition – in most respects – would be “business as usual”, adding, “I’ve actually been the acting prime minister several times and we’re all still here, so don’t worry”.
Seymour admitted he felt the position was largely symbolic.
“Any position in politics is only an opportunity to be good and do good, and I will be judged by how much we deliver for the people of New Zealand,” he said. “All of the people, those who support ACT and those who don’t.
“However, I also believe that for many people who never ever thought an ACT leader could be deputy prime minister, there is some significance in the position.”
Reflecting on his career to this point, he poked fun at his history.
“If I’ve proved anything, it’s that anyone can dance, not always that well, but well enough to earn people’s respect and give a lot of entertainment along the way.”
Seymour was featured on Dancing with the Stars NZ in 2018, in which he finished fifth.
Seymour’s first task as deputy prime minister was to confront media questions about cabinet minister Chris Bishop’s behaviour at Thursday night’s Aotearoa Music Awards.
Bishop acknowledged he should have kept his comments to himself, after saying “what a load of crap” during Stan Walker’s performance, which prominently featured Toitū Te Tiriti banners.
Musician Don McGlashan confronted Bishop, telling him to “shut up, you d***head”.
Seymour denied the hubbub had distracted from his big day.
“Only the people watching or reading your news can decide that, and I suspect that there’ll be people who think Bish was absolutely right,” he said. “People who think he was wrong, people who don’t care… each person will make up their own mind.
“Just because you become a senior minister, it doesn’t mean you should stop having opinions and it might well be that, based on [what] Chris saw in that moment, he was correct. It may be that people will agree with him.”
Despite his elevated position, Seymour promised to remain “quirky”, although declined to elaborate on what that meant.
“Well, the great thing about quirkiness is it’s spontaneous, it sometimes just happens. Anyone who plans to be quirky is, to quote Don McGlashan, a bit of a d***head.”
By Felix Walton of rnz.co.nz