The Country 17/11/25: David Seymour talks to Jamie Mackay

The Deputy PM and Act Party leader comments on Trump dropping tariffs, Federated Farmers' petition to end the consenting crisis, and we ask why the Government is scoring so badly on inflation, cost of living and the economy.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Packed Party leader Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour kicks off
the country today. Good news story, Trump dropping tariffs on
beef and Kiwi fruit. Does this surprise you.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
David, No, because nobody is above the law, especially the
laws of economics. It was always going to be a
matter of time before the logic of free trade came
back into fashion. If one person's got something like a
hunk of beef and the other person's got something like
a hunk of hunger and some cash, there's an obvious

(00:33):
deal for them to do. And governments don't improve anything
by getting in the way, So that logic was always
going to come through. And if anything, it's a tribute
to New Zealand farmers and the quality of the goods
they produce. I reckon Donald probably just you know, couldn't
get enough and he was keen to let it back in.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Do you think this is the beginning of the end
of Trump's tariff regime? I mean beef and Kiwi fruit,
that's good, couple of our biggest ex sports lamb. No
luck there is He only going to drop these on
the stuff he really needs.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, it's one of those things where I can tell
you what's going to happen, But I can't tell you
when inevitably free trade will come back into fashion because
mutually beneficial gains for consenting adults. I mean, it's just
fundamentally a good idea and governments that get in the
way of that are denying people prosperity, and over time

(01:28):
people will see through it. So I know what will happen.
Free trade will come back, But as to exactly when,
there's so much going on with US politics as they
effectively renegotiate their deal with the rest of the world.
It could be next week, it could be next year,
it could be next president. Very difficult to know. So

(01:49):
there we go.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Free trade could be like flares and shoulder pads and
leg warmers, everything eventually comes back. David Seymour, Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Look, I didn't know you backoned to the shoulder pads.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Well, it was not me in the eighties, but it
was the decade of big hair and big shoulders. Okay,
let's move on because we are going to talk to
Nathan Guy about this from the Meat Industry Association Federated Farmers,
and we've got David Clark coming up to talk about
this one as well. But I'm keen to get your
views on it. They've launched a petition over the consenting crisis,

(02:21):
which seems an absolute nonsense. I'm talking about the consenting process.
They're not going to get an argument from.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
You, No, they're not. It's a bit of a difficult
situation because we are doing the right thing by replacing
resource management law. I've seen the draft resource Management laws
and I think rural New Zealand's going to be very
happy with what Simon caught from Act and Chris Bishop
have cooked up. It's going to be a game changer

(02:50):
for our country. But in the meantime, there's a whole
lot of people who are due consents under the old
system and being hijacked by basically council members who seem
to be trying to get their last bit of revenge.
As far as I can work out from talking to farmers,
all I can say is that Simon Cord and Chris

(03:10):
Bishop do have a solution, but it's not for me
to talk to. I expect they'll be unveiling it next month,
possibly the end of this month, and that should get
some relief. So we know there's a problem, we've clocked
it and it's just a matter of making the wheels
turn here in Willington.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
The government has only rated three point nine out of
ten in the latest Issues Monitors survey. Believe it or not,
David Seymour, your coalition government. The only issue that you're
beating Labor on is law and order and what's happened
to the balance of the universe when Labour's winning on inflation,

(03:49):
cost of living and the economy. Aren't you guys meant
to be the experts on the economy?

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah. I think what people are reflecting is their experience
that they say, it's pretty tough and fation is high,
you know, or at least it has been high, and
I'm still paying the high prices that came from that period.
Interest rates are falling, but you know, people are still
trying to replenish their balance sheets a lot of ways.
People are still paying for COVID. I had a guy

(04:19):
just last week email me say, look, I'm actually I've
got a business that works, but I'm still in tax
areas from the COVID period and if I don't get
some relief from inland revenue, it might tip me over.
So obviously I've talked to the Ministry of Revenue about that,
or Minister for Revenue. But that's the kind of thing
that's going on out there, And so I can understand

(04:39):
someone like that if you ask him how's the economy going? Well,
you know, not great. I'm about to lose my business.
But if you forensically go back through the reasons for that,
it's actually decisions that were made four years ago that
have put him in this position before we were in government.
So I can understand where people are at. I just
point to are we managing our spending well? Yes? Are

(05:00):
we getting inflation down? Yes? Are we getting inflation interest
rates down? Yes? Do I wish there was a shortcut
that we could skip a few steps and just get
to heaven tomorrow? Yes?

Speaker 1 (05:10):
I do?

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Is that dream of reality? Know what are we going
to do? Just keep doing the hard yards, cutting red tape,
cutting waste for spending, getting interest rates and inflation under control.
That creates the conditions for people to be able to prosper.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
David Seymour. On that note, we'll leave you thanks for
your time as always on the country.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yep, loud and clear, you have a great day.