This weekend marks the last day of Winnie and the first day of David Seymour as the Deputy Prime Minister.

Now, mostly I don't actually care.

I mean, I largely agree with Jim Bolger's assessment and, and obviously, happy 90th birthday to Jim for tomorrow.

The role doesn't actually mean very much.

It's symbolic.

It doesn't carry any particular power other than really just letting you know who's second in command.

But it feels like an appropriate time just to take a moment to acknowledge, because we don't do this very often, that it's actually very nice, isn't it, to have both of these two men in government right now, if only to give the Nats a little bit of a push along, you know, to actually do things from time to time.

Winston strikes me right now as the right man for the right job for right now.

Don't you think?

With all this nutty stuff that's going on in the world, his huge previous experience as a foreign minister, I think, is reassuring.

I feel like it's not going overboard to say that I trust his instincts in the job.

When he gets angry with Israel, you know, it's not for politics, it's not for performance.

It's because he's actually angry with Israel.

Given his experience, that would be warranted.

On David Seymour, if there's one thing that we can truly thank him for right now, it's shifting the Overton window so that we can, and now do debate things like the treaty principles.

The Overton window is the available, is the, it covers the stuff that we feel comfortable talking about in the media and in society.

He has shifted that, so principles are now firmly within the Overton window and we talk about it, and we should be able to debate it, because they should not be taboo.

Things that have as much impact on our economy and our society and our lives as treaty principles, and as on our private property as well, should be up for discussion without critics of those things being labelled racist.

And it is squarely because of ACT's policies that those discussion, those discussions are now out in the open.

Now, I don't really expect very much to change after the weekend other than maybe we'll see more of both men, more of David Seymour because he'll be the deputy, and more of Winston because he'll not be the deputy, which means that he can act up a little bit, maybe.

But either way, I think it's not a bad thing to have both of them in there at the moment, is it?

This weekend marks the last day of Winnie and the first day of David Seymour as the Deputy Prime Minister.
Now, mostly I don't actually care.
I mean, I largely agree with Jim Bolger's assessment and, and obviously, happy 90th birthday to Jim for tomorrow.
The role doesn't actually mean very much.
It's symbolic.
It doesn't carry any particular power other than really just letting you know who's second in command.
But it feels like an appropriate time just to take a moment to acknowledge, because we don't do this very often, that it's actually very nice, isn't it, to have both of these two men in government right now, if only to give the Nats a little bit of a push along, you know, to actually do things from time to time.
Winston strikes me right now as the right man for the right job for right now.
Don't you think?
With all this nutty stuff that's going on in the world, his huge previous experience as a foreign minister, I think, is reassuring.
I feel like it's not going overboard to say that I trust his instincts in the job.
When he gets angry with Israel, you know, it's not for politics, it's not for performance.
It's because he's actually angry with Israel.
Given his experience, that would be warranted.
On David Seymour, if there's one thing that we can truly thank him for right now, it's shifting the Overton window so that we can, and now do debate things like the treaty principles.
The Overton window is the available, is the, it covers the stuff that we feel comfortable talking about in the media and in society.
He has shifted that, so principles are now firmly within the Overton window and we talk about it, and we should be able to debate it, because they should not be taboo.
Things that have as much impact on our economy and our society and our lives as treaty principles, and as on our private property as well, should be up for discussion without critics of those things being labelled racist.
And it is squarely because of ACT's policies that those discussion, those discussions are now out in the open.
Now, I don't really expect very much to change after the weekend other than maybe we'll see more of both men, more of David Seymour because he'll be the deputy, and more of Winston because he'll not be the deputy, which means that he can act up a little bit, maybe.
But either way, I think it's not a bad thing to have both of them in there at the moment, is it?

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.

Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Seymour and Peters are the right men for the job

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/2401ae3e-b25a-430c-96cf-b2ed007385c6/transcript