Two Labour MPs have apologised after swearing during an appearance by David Seymour at a testy select committee hearing today.
Seymour was speaking as Regulation Minister, alongside officials from his Regulation Ministry, as part of Parliament’s so-called “scrutiny week” where ministers and agency chief executives are made available for questioning by MPs.
The two Labour MPs in question, Deborah Russell and Duncan Webb, both withdrew and apologised for their off-the-cuff remarks.
Russell’s comments came shortly after Seymour’s opening remarks, when National MP Ryan Hamilton brought up something he had heard while the minister was talking.
It then appeared the matter wouldn’t be pursued further by the hearing’s chairperson, before Seymour inquired as to what the offending remark was.
“It’s something I should’ve kept under my breath,” Russell said.
“Just tell, people would like to know,” Seymour then asked.
Russell responded: “I believe I said, ‘for f*** sakes’ in response to something you said. It was unparliamentary and I shouldn’t have said it.”
The Labour MP’s comment couldn’t be heard on the microphones used for live-streaming the hearing, and it appeared Seymour himself hadn’t heard it until brought up.
Seymour then chuckled and exclaimed, “Well, that’s the standard of the Labour Party. They’re swearing already”.
The minister is also currently acting PM while Christopher Luxon is out of the country.
Russell confirmed she had withdrawn and apologised for her comment.
‘I would call it making s*** up, actually’
Later on, a testy exchange with MP Duncan Webb over claims Seymour’s ministry had helped prevent costly flour dust regulations also drew a sweary outcome.
“Now I’ve seen the documentation. There were never flour dust regulations in force that required the 10 parts per million tests,” Webb said. “Do you want to correct that? Or are you going to keep saying something which is not accurate?
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When Seymour began to respond that his description could be argued to be “imprecise,” Webb retorted, “I would call it making s*** up, actually”.
The Labour MP then went on to withdraw and apologise over the remark.
Seymour responded: “As I said, you could argue that it was imprecise, but the facts are that there was a regulation that would have had a huge cost if it was put in place. It wasn’t, thanks to the Ministry for Regulation.”
Later on, the ACT Party leader said: “We’re going to make a great video of the behaviour of Labour MPs on this committee. And I think people are going to decide, whatever happens next year, we don’t want them back over here.”
Hearing scrutinises Seymour’s ministry
The Regulation Ministry and the role of Regulation Minister, a job taken by Seymour, was created as part of ACT’s coalition agreement and replaced the Productivity Commission.
It was the chief subject of scrutiny during Seymour’s committee appearance.
In one instance, Green MP Francisco Hernandez pressed chief executive Gráinne Moss about whether there was too much bureaucracy within the anti-red tape ministry.
“Can you name another government agency with around 100 employees, with three deputy chief executives?” he asked.
Moss responded: “I think you can. You can happily look at a few other government departments. If you look at the other central agencies, there’s some equivalents there.”
She added that the agency needed three deputy chief executive officers for a variety of reasons.
Hernandez had previously criticised the ministry for paying staff an average salary well above the median in the public sector.