David Seymour calls for gentailer sell-off and ‘adult conversation’ on nuclear power

Wednesday, 5 November 2025

David Seymour suggests New Zealand might be justified in doubling its reliance on coal generation, saying some use of coal supported more investment in renewables and electrification.

ACT Party leader David Seymour says he would like to sell down the Government’s 51% stakes in Meridian, Mercury and Genesis, accept an ongoing role for coal generation and have an “adult conversation” about nuclear power.

Setting out the party’s energy policy at a breakfast in Wellington hosted by industry association Energy Resources Aotearoa, Seymour also defended the current structure of the electricity market.

Referring to the recent winter energy crunches that saw prices spike and factories close or cut back production, Seymour said the country’s energy future should not be decided “based on a couple of bad years”.

“I am here to take the radical position of policy stability,” he said. “We have had far too much chopping and changing and uncertainty, which people complain about, in most areas of policy.”

Genesis Energy chairwoman Barbara Chapman and chief executive Marc England dismiss the idea of nuclear power in NZ at the company's annual meeting in October 2021.

It was odd for the Government to own majority stakes in power firms and selling down the shareholdings, which have a market value of just over $14 billion, would set the companies free to invest “without the political tides that ebb and flow”, he said.

Seymour’s comments appeared to bring into stark relief the party’s differences with coalition partner NZ First over electricity policy.

NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones made clear in February that it might break ranks with the Government and endorse a major overhaul of the electricity market ahead of the next election.

Jones said he did not believe the country’s energy settings were sustainable and he had “zero confidence that the industry is going to solve this problem”.

Seymour made clear that was not in ACT’s thinking. “We need investment certainty, the more you take that away, the less ’abundance’ you get.

“We need to recognise generation requires long-term investment and that means not seeking to undermine property rights.”

Commenting on their policy differences, Seymour had a dig at Jones' previous support for the ban on new offshore oil and gas permits when NZ First was in coalition with Labour.

“A very wise person once told me ‘if you can't ride two horses at once, you shouldn't be in the political circus’.

“But if you're somebody who voted to ban oil and gas and then becomes the champion of bringing it back, then you've certainly fulfilled that mantra. But I'm not sure that you can take three positions in such a short period of time,” he said.

Jones, in response, called Seymour’s speech an “ideological spitball”.

Gentailers would never solve New Zealand’s affordability and supply problems and “one of the options that New Zealand First is looking at is further nationalisation”, he said.

Seymour said using some coal to firm up and support more renewable generation was not a bad deal, describing it as sometimes the best source of industrial heat, and questioned whether it would be harmful for New Zealand to derive 10% of its power from coal, up from about 5% now.

“Surely a little sin justifies an otherwise blameless existence?” he said.

Modern small nuclear reactors were safe by design and were worth considering, he said.

“Countries like France and South Korea have shown that, with sensible regulations, nuclear power can be delivered in an affordable and timely manner.”

Seymour made clear he was not advocating for government support for nuclear power.

“It doesn’t need to be taxpayers’ money at stake. Government just needs to get out of the way and allow the best technology to win.”