Dame Anne Salmond v David Seymour: The tit for tat row between the deputy PM and an academic

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

ACT leader David Seymour suggested 'bots' drove 'fake submissions' against his Regulatory Standards Bill

The deputy Prime Minister David Seymour says he is “being a bit playful” with social media posts which label scholars opposing his party’s Regulatory Standards Bill as having a “derangement syndrome” - and that he could instead call them liars.

Dame Anne Salmond, an anthropologist and historian who is one of the four academics mocked by Seymour on social media, sees his criticism as an attempt to silence dissenting scholars, and something “straight from Trump’s America”.

It’s a stand-off neither will back down from, one defending academic freedom, the other defending what he sees as a long-overdue regulatory reckoning.

Just to back up a little… the bill, introduced by Regulation Minister David Seymour, is designed to enable the assessment of proposed and existing legislation against a set of established regulatory principles.

It has its critics, however, who say it favours “corporate interests” ahead of communities, environmental protections, and the Treaty of Waitangi.

So, what is the go here?

Dame Anne last week wrote an opinion piece for Newsroom, which laid out “nine reasons why ACT’s legislation on regulation is flawed and should not pass”.

Among the reasons listed was that ACT received just 8.6% of the party vote in the 2023 general election - meaning 91.4% of voters did not support it.

Dame Anne Salmond says David Seymour is a sensitive soul. (File photo)

As a result, she said it does not have the democratic mandate to push through the Bill, especially given its strong libertarian basis which she argued puts corporate interests above community well-being and the environment.

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour’s post on Dame Anne Salmond.

She also said there was “little reason” to trust the professed intent behind the Bill (which is stated somewhat blandly as “to support Parliament’s scrutiny of legislation, and its oversight and control of the use of delegated powers to make legislation”) because the government can ignore scrutiny when it feels like it - such as when the government passed under urgency and without public consultation controversial changes to pay equity legislation.

Seymour replied, making Dame Ann his second “Regulatory Standards Derangement Syndrome” victim of the day.

“Apparently, asking Ministers to explain what they are doing now is a step towards oligarchy,” he wrote in a caption on the social media post.

He stated the Bill simply requires governments to be transparent about laws that restrict freedoms, impose costs, or reduce property rights.

“It’s far from a radical idea,” he wrote. “It just means showing your working.”

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has made social media posts singling out academics who oppose the Bill. (File photo)

He argued that critics object not to the specifics of the Bill, but to the fact it limits arbitrary power and prioritises individual rights, due process, and cost-benefit analysis over ideology -“which is the whole point.”

On Monday, he doubled down on suggestions Dame Anne and others had a “derangement syndrome”.

“I could say that they're incorrect statements are deliberate, and therefore they're lying,” he said. “I could say they're incapable of understanding what they're saying. I'm not saying that.

“I'm being a bit playful saying the only reason I can think of for all these totally factually incorrect statements about the regulatory standards bill is that there's some sort of sinister syndrome out there.”

And again, Dame Anne on Tuesday took another aim at Seymour, stating Seymour holds a “double standard” over criticism.

“I've been reflecting that the deputy prime minister and his colleagues were so harmed and intimidated by a haka in Parliament that three of their parliamentary colleagues were excluded for 21 days,” she said, referencing the historic suspension of Te Pāti Māori MPs following a protest haka during the first Treaty Principles Bill vote.

“They're sensitive souls, you know. But that empathy doesn't extend to members of the public who are simply carrying out their democratic rights.”

And even Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau got involved, asking Christopher Luxon, the PM, to investigate Seymour’s behaviour. As Luxon is away, the acting PM (David Seymour!) stood in on Monday and dismissed the critique.

Who do you back? Have your say in our poll above.

The Regulatory Standards Bill passed its first reading in May.

Submissions on the Bill closed on Monday.