So the prospect has been raised of David Seymour as Finance Minister if the centre-right is re-elected.

He was on Newstalk ZB with John MacDonald in Christchurch and said it was very possible he could have the job after the election, given, I suppose, that Nicola Willis might not be there because of the projected National Party overhang.

Chris Luxon shot it down immediately. He said the job is Nicola's, probably because he's trying to manifest the overhang threat away. Seymour then promptly pulled his head in and started downplaying it, presumably because he saw the absolute political target Chloe Swarbrick turned herself into by publicly demanding the job a few weeks ago.

But, honestly, here's the question: would that be a bad thing? Would it be a bad thing to have David Seymour as Finance Minister?

Could you do worse?

Because I suspect he's more prepared than almost any National Party MP to make the cuts necessary to get the public service and government spending back down to an appropriate size. Properly cutting back the public sector and government departments is one of his key campaign pledges this election.

His party is the one that found the enormous pay equity savings and had the courage to wear the political blowback that came with delivering them in Budget 2025. He has expressed frustration, budget after budget, at identifying savings, taking them to the Finance Minister and seeing them brushed aside.

Now, if you accept that, as a country, we're spending too much on public servants and not getting better services for it than we were nine years ago, and if you accept that the government has not cut nearly as many public-service roles as voters were led to expect, and if you accept that money would be better spent on cancer medications and hospital beds than on bureaucracy, then would it really be such a bad thing if David Seymour took the job, assuming there was a vacancy after the election?

LISTEN ABOVE

So the prospect has been raised of David Seymour as Finance Minister if the centre-right is re-elected.
He was on Newstalk ZB with John MacDonald in Christchurch and said it was very possible he could have the job after the election, given, I suppose, that Nicola Willis might not be there because of the projected National Party overhang.
Chris Luxon shot it down immediately. He said the job is Nicola's, probably because he's trying to manifest the overhang threat away. Seymour then promptly pulled his head in and started downplaying it, presumably because he saw the absolute political target Chloe Swarbrick turned herself into by publicly demanding the job a few weeks ago.
But, honestly, here's the question: would that be a bad thing? Would it be a bad thing to have David Seymour as Finance Minister?
Could you do worse?
Because I suspect he's more prepared than almost any National Party MP to make the cuts necessary to get the public service and government spending back down to an appropriate size. Properly cutting back the public sector and government departments is one of his key campaign pledges this election.
His party is the one that found the enormous pay equity savings and had the courage to wear the political blowback that came with delivering them in Budget 2025. He has expressed frustration, budget after budget, at identifying savings, taking them to the Finance Minister and seeing them brushed aside.
Now, if you accept that, as a country, we're spending too much on public servants and not getting better services for it than we were nine years ago, and if you accept that the government has not cut nearly as many public-service roles as voters were led to expect, and if you accept that money would be better spent on cancer medications and hospital beds than on bureaucracy, then would it really be such a bad thing if David Seymour took the job, assuming there was a vacancy after the election?
LISTEN ABOVE

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

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Would it be a bad thing to have David Seymour as Finance Minister?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/2f070e11-de91-45f0-9d31-b4f50033408f/transcript