David Seymour - Leader of the ACT Party

Real Life With John Cowan

When David Seymour was 17, a fight broke out between his principal and a visiting MP.

An enthralled Seymour watched on as his Auckland Grammar headmaster John Morris and Trevor Mallard, then the Minister of Education, went head-to-head over the merits of NCEA.

Witnessing that heated argument, something happened. Seymour didn’t know it at the time, but it would be the moment that sparked a passion for politics.

“At the time I just thought ‘wow, how is it possible the Government could be wrong?’ Because I’m 17 and I’m thinking … [the Government is] running the country, they must be right,” the ACT leader told the Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan.

“But then I thought, well they also said I should listen to my principal – and if they’re having a very public fight, then clearly these people in Government may not be very competent after all.”

While his interest in politics was uncovered as a teen, his first taste of the public spotlight came years prior. As a youngster, Seymour was cast as a young Sir Edmund Hillary in the TVNZ documentary series A View from the Top.

“I didn’t get an Oscar, needless to say – but I did get to meet Ed, which was very, very cool,” Seymour laughed.

“He was the most famous guy alive in New Zealand at that time by a long shot, and he spent about 20 minutes talking to this precocious 12-year-old about everything under the sun. And I just thought, ‘how cool was that?’

“That’s why I just think he’s the greatest New Zealander. He was such a high achiever but so modest, and he gave me the time of day – I’ve always remembered that.

“I think it showed that no matter who you are and what the moment is, you can actually choose to do good. He could’ve very easily said ‘piss off young man, I’m very busy being important’. But he didn’t – he wasn’t that sort of a guy.”

Seymour speaks highly of his time at Auckland Grammar, crediting the school with upholding the idea that individuals have the power to make a difference in their own lives – an idea that underlines many of the libertarian ideals he now stands for.

It’s this philosophy of individual autonomy that spurred his efforts to legalise euthanasia, which was successful in 2020.

“Each of us get one chance to live,” he told Real Life.

“People have lots of theories, but we don’t really know where we come from or where we go. Many people have faith, and I respect that, but the truth is we don’t really know a lot. And that’s why I think it’s wrong for people to claim ‘you should live this way’ or ‘you should live that way’.

“I think our goal in politics and life should be to free people up to live as best they can so long as they’re not harming anyone else. Just live and let live – let people get on with it.”

While he’s not shy of confrontation around Parliament, Seymour says his philosophy degree taught him humility and openness when it comes to his ideas.

“I look at a lot of my colleagues and rivals in politics, and they think they’ve got all the answers.

“When you do philosophy, you look at really hard questions. And after you do that for a while, you start to realise people have been looking at this for 2000 years and no one’s figured it out yet, so maybe I should be a bit humble too.”

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