Why a tiny Parliament crest on David Seymour’s ‘victim of the day’ posts has raised big questions

Thursday, 26 June 2025

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

Dame Anne Salmond likens social media posts by Acting Prime Minister David Seymour — in which he accuses her and three other academics of “derangement syndrome” and calls them a “victim of the day” — to being put in the stocks, a medieval form of public shaming.

“You’re inviting citizens to come and chuck rocks at people, basically, right? And that’s exactly what they do online,” she said.

Adding to the insult, she said, was the appearance of a Parliament insignia on the bottom left of the image, which suggested it was endorsed by Parliament. “When you have a deputy prime minister with posts that have a parliamentary insignia on them, engaging in a campaign of online intimidation … I think that’s completely unacceptable in a democracy.”

David Seymour singles out scholars who speak against Regulatory Standards Bill.

A spokesperson for Seymour confirmed it was put together using staff from the Parliamentary Service staff — the statutory body responsible for providing administrative and support services to MPs — who are supposed to be used for “parliamentary purpose” such as legislating, scrutinising and engaging with the public.

Labour, the Greens and Dame Anne assert that doesn’t include social media posts attacking members of the public, but a spokesperson for Seymour said it did fit within the rules, because it was helping people engage with the legislation.

Metiria Turei, a former MP and University of Otago academic, has also been singled out.

Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said parties can use Parliamentary staff time at their discretion, and would not comment on whether the posts fulfilled a “parliamentary purpose”.

‘Online trolling’ or ‘correcting the record’?

Labour and the Greens agree with Dame Anne, and have also compared the four posts to “online trolling” and say it’s an inappropriate use of public-funded staff.

“Someone using political power and influence to attack academic speech and thought, that is not what this county is supposed to be about and I didn’t think it was supposed to be what he is about ‘Mr freedom of speech champion’,” Marama Davidson, Green Party co-leader, said.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins pointed out there was nothing wrong with arguing with members of the public, but drew the line at “using your parliamentary budget to pro-actively go out and attack them with online trolling and bullying”.

“It isn’t the behaviour we would expect from any political party but particularly a party that has the acting prime minister in it,” he said.

But Seymour, who is acting prime minister, makes no apology for what he describes as “correcting the record” over falsehoods, such as Dame Anne’s suggestion in an opinion piece that corporations could be compensated for loss of income if new legislation effects them.

“Salmond and some of her peers have used their institutional status to mount a public attack on the Regulatory Standards Bill. That’s their right. But politicians and the public have an equal right to push back.”