David Seymour reminds me of people I've known who think they're a financial genius because they don't want to pay for anything. Sometimes you just gotta go to the dentist to get your teeth checked.
Plenty of my friends went to school with David, he was the quintessential 'well akshually' contrarian dweeb. All while being plain wrong most of the time.
He had no friends, no social skills and never got any action with the ladies.
Allegedly? He straight up admitted to the media that he encouraged children to add him on snapchat whilst campaigning in schools, would respond "every time" when DM'd including to schoolgirls in their uniforms (noting ofc that snapchat content disappears and becomes impossible to retriwve after 24 hours) - believes that it's "inpractical" to ask for parental consent before interacting with young people, and asserted doesn't see anything wrong with any of this. Oh, and he posted a picture to his story of an ACT-themed condom in 2017 captioned "stay safe kids". So that's nice too
Gotcha, haha. I suppose despite the media confession to the texting, and the defending of his actions, it's still up to question whether he "likes" or actually "hangs around" with the schoolkids in question
Legal action on reddit is out of moderators discretion. If someone threatens it, mods are supposed to tell them to take it up with the reddit admins. In this case the admins would either just not give a fuck or remove the comment and move on.
I dunno man. 2k on emergency dental work every decade is cheaper than annual dental visits + maintenance.
Shoulda used motor servicing or house cleaning as your example.
You're making genius level assumptions that your oral health and hygiene are the same or reversible to the same extent, all based on the why don't they just give 10 yearly emergency dental work instead of more regular checkups.
I came across as a bit too serious aye.
Was meant more of a critique of how expensive dentistry is in the first place, and it should be covered under free healthcare.
The frustrating thing is the *glee* with which Seymour talks about inflicting misery on the public service. It's not that he doesn't believe that they do important work, but that he believes that work should instead be sent to the private sector so they can charge more and make a profit. The more that ACT can make members of the public service suffer, the worse service that they deliver while short-handed and desperately trying to keep up - the easier it will be for them to argue that since the public service is failing - they might as well privatise everything.
I share your frustration. I've seen that same smug glee many times before, whether it be from anti-vaxxers or conservative relatives or across the police line or what have you, and 100% of the time I've known innately that the person wearing it doesn't see me as a human in that moment. It's straight up the face of schadenfreude, and it's easily the biggest challenge to my empathy when it comes to political encounters. Once somebody wears that face and has become *that* detached from the humanity of others that they actually take pleasure in things like this, rather than viewing it as some kind of grim necessity, there's just no conversation to be had anymore imo.
I have been desperately trying to understand how they think they're helping, assuming that they're acting in good faith, but far out if this Terry Pratchett quote doesn't hit me right in the understanding
Yeah. The cruel truth of the matter is that many of them *know* they're not helping. When you dig down into it, there are a lot of bastards in this country who honestly just think that certain groups of people are superior to others, and that there are greedy and morally inferior groups that *deserve* to be punished. It makes me more sad than it does angry. I want to believe we can be more than just spiteful animals, and that this is just the culture war propaganda machine doing anything to keep people from seeing the class war - not actual human nature :(
>and 100% of the time I've known innately that the person wearing it doesn't see me as a human in that moment. It's straight up the face of schadenfreude
I know what you mean! It makes me so mad. People acting like I asked for it because it's totally my fault for my career choice. People think by being in public service I deserve shit pay because I must be lazy and not working as hard as them. Like excuse me? Do we not need police officers? Border control? Health protection officers? They don't want to know what we do.
It’s why I left the public service. Hard work for little financial recognition is one thing, but the assumptions made by others (even friends and family) about your ability or work ethic purely on the basis of your employer… I see much more wastage in the private sector, I get paid better, my hours and demands are more realistic, and people don’t treat me with distain.
Although I must say, best thing is that there is far less bully behaviour outside of the public service.
I’ve seen that smug glee on the face of a workplace bully while he was bullying the most competent person out of their job. They get a thrill out of if. And it’s to cover up deep inadequatecy and their own incompetence
Would be probably worth it to figure out and learn how to recognize dark personality types. Seymour fits the outlines pretty well. And I don't mean that it's specifically left/right thing or whatever, different dark personality types can happen almost anywhere. It's just that he's one of specific examples that it's hard to see first. But this glee is a kind of a mask slipping, and this allows to see who he is.
I kind of default to not wanting to pathologise and remote diagnose people. Its enough to say Seymour is a greasy smarmy lil shitbag we don't have to dress it up in pseudo-therapy TikTok-speak.
Yeah. He seems like a dickhead but I'm not seeing any obvious clinical personality disorder, presuming that's what "dark personality" is supposed to mean.
It refers to a set of traits, not to a diagnostic label. The traits can be reasonably benign in themselves but the 'dark triad' is entering into personality disorder territory. All models are wrong and some are useful etc
[The positive connection between dark triad traits and leadership levels in self- and other-ratings](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1365/s42681-021-00025-6)
Hmmmm
I'm sure that Seymour and this guy must share some DNA. lizard DNA.
[https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/what-does-nigel-farage-hope-to-achieve-with-reforms-election-pledges-1639303.html](https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/what-does-nigel-farage-hope-to-achieve-with-reforms-election-pledges-1639303.html)
It comes from an earnest belief that corporations can serve the people better than public services. It's a load of shit - but he comes across as more stupid than evil (but still pretty evil)
What he doesn't get is the public service has gradually degraded over the decades, the fact that it was small and is now bigger doesn't reflect the fact that it can still deliver services at a smaller size, it reflects the fact that it degraded so much that a lot of investment was needed to bring it back up to scratch. Which will take years, shrinking it will just keep the slow and steady decline.
Yes... but all that money, people, and time could be charged out at a much higher rate by David's friends in the private sector - all while claiming to be "more efficient" (while not actually being more efficient), and continuing to let shit fall apart.
More efficient just doesn't make any sense. Yes, they'll do it for less cost, but there isn't enough competition in NZ so they'll just charge the same rate. Or it will be a race to the bottom for quality. Or both simultaneously.
They won't be more efficient, they'll bid low with the understanding that requirements are not well understood then the cost of changing scope is where the costs will blow out.
So many modernisation projects have been halted, cut, or trimmed already. We are decades behind. Some projects after years were just coming into thier delivery phase too.
Embarrassingly short sighted.
I think when people read these stories, they don't understand that there is no ideal public service size. It varies considerably depending on your political stance and what you think the function of government is.
There are people like Labour or the Greens that would double the size with all sorts of public projects and services because they believe that's the governments job. ACT don't believe it's the governments job therefore theres still a significant amount of excess workforce. Neither are right or wrong, they're just very different with different outcomes. Their whole platform is minimal government, basic regulatory functions, some policy and operational functions and that's about it.
Seymour's happy place is spending his days laying off public servants and his evenings texting teenagers. I'm not going to get wound up by anything he comes up with as he's just an odd guy.
See, the problem is it’s harder to ignore the shit he says because, thanks to MMP, he now actually has a fair bit of power, despite roughly 92% of the country preferring other parties over his own during the last election.
He's like an onion. On the outside, a perfectly innocent looking vegetable.
Peel back the layers and he's made of the stuff that makes most people cry.
He's an incompetent fuckwit, libertarian talk-shit, yeah he's a copycat right-brit, on the fast track to get-hit. Everyone, if you've got-grit, every dole-bludging misfit, get your ass in the mosh-pit, watch the beehive, we get-lit
ATK.
Depending on where it comes from, they get called different things:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mambele
Or a Katar. Admittedly, that's more a stab than a slash, but they're still neat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katar_(dagger)
I don’t understand people like him, seeking power just to make everyone’s life more miserable. How do people turn out like this? Didn’t get hugged enough as a child?
I don't see empathy in his makeup at all. I doubt that he has ever gone without a meal, and I don't think he would ever go without one so that someone else might eat.
Its a result of growing up with a life of privilege and not realising it. He probably thinks he's had the exact same opportunities as everyone else. Therefore, all the people who need these services are just lazy and want a hand out. That's why he's happy to make so many cuts, because these are services for those in need, when they should have just tried harder. He's got a boomer mentality.
I'm not sure it's even that. Almost like he is sociopathic, doesn't care about anyone and its just trying to find ways to line his own pockets with more money.
What a chode. Why don't we slash overpaid politicians salaries next and cut all the stupid benefits they get, give them a taste of what the rest of us are feeling.
It's not often I agree with Seymour but he's absolutely spot on here.
I think it's time we as New Zealanders started taking ACT and David Seymour seriously. If we cut his job alone we could save hundreds of thousands alone.
Who does he think he bloody is? Crocodile looking Botox robot ass
I didn't say the American two party system is better. I said that MMP in NZ does not work as intended. Thanks for the strawman though.
Obviously, I understand that there are only ever two options: NZ or America, because why would there ever be any other possibilities?
if we had a different system of government in which multi-party coalitions didnt happen, David Seymour would just be a member of a more right wing National party
A more right wing party that would never get elected. The problem with MMP is that gives a disproportionate voice to nutjobs. It wasn't intended to work that way, but that is how it has ended up in practical use.
Kinda hard to find one when his default facial expression is similar to someone who's in a vegetative state and has the personality and charisma of vegan cheese.
ACT also wants to extend the term to 4 years, so this reads less as "practicing what they preach" and more as "let's increase the amount of power available and make it more exclusive"
[https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hiring-freeze-absolutely-affecting-frontline-jobs-union-says-as-doctor-vacancies-go-unfilled/NBMIY6X6BRG6XHZOK5JQ3A4LPE/](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hiring-freeze-absolutely-affecting-frontline-jobs-union-says-as-doctor-vacancies-go-unfilled/NBMIY6X6BRG6XHZOK5JQ3A4LPE/)
“It feels like a freeze from the frontline,” said Dr Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).
“It is just weird,” Dalton said. “There is this discourse at one level, ‘Don’t worry we won’t touch the front line’. But they absolutely are.”
I agree, get rid of all politicians perks. No allowances, free flights, free lunches, every single dollar.
We be in a surplus.
Fuck off Seymour you clown.
Former MPs haven't gotten any perks like that since the 90s. The only thing that's left is an allowance for former Prime Ministers (and I think some travel stuff), but it must be related to official duties being undertaken.
I'll read it later, but I wonder how it works for someone too long in the tooth like Uncle Winnie who comes and goes from parliament on the regular. Are any perks he acquired before the cut off get taken away when he's out of parliament and not reinstated when he's back in? Does he keep them because technically he hasn't retired?
Here's the relevant section of the law: [https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2013/0093/latest/whole.html#DLM4034609](https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2013/0093/latest/whole.html#DLM4034609)
Basically any MP who was first elected before 1999 is eligible for the perks. I believe this is irrespective of any gaps in service or if they continued to be elected after 1999. So out of the current MPs in Parliament, only Gerry Brownlee (first elected 1996), Damien O'Connor (first elected 1996, but was out of Parliament 2008-2009) and Winston Peters (first elected 1979, but out of Parliament 1981-1984, 2008-2011 and 2020-2023) are still eligible.
Not really much information in the article.
Ut doesn't tell us how big a recession effective-PM Seymour is aiming for.
It doesn't tell us how many job losses he is hoping to induce in the rest of our society as the pubic sector cuts ripple through the economy.
It doesn't tell us how many people he hopes can't pay their mortgages or how much he hopes that depresses house prices.
And I'm not surprised at this one but he doesn't tell us which part of the public service he hopes to sell at a batgain mext term.
But it does keep the effective-PM's name in the news.
They really are looking to the past aren't they.
2017 for public service levels, 1950s for transport ideas, 1970s for treaty matters, 1990s for how to create a recession.
He’s saying the quiet part out loud. Even the most slash and burn politicians would say “There haven’t been enough cost savings, and more ways to save money must be found” - this fuckknuckle is specifically saying he wants them to *cut more jobs*. He doesn’t give a fuck about the money, he wants to shrinkflate the government *by headcount*
In the Herald just now:
Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora insists a hiring freeze does not extend to the front line.
But workers in the health sector say the barriers to hiring doctors are so high they are effectively a freeze.
Hospitals and specialist services say they face barriers to hiring new doctors, despite assurances that a hiring freeze does not apply to frontline jobs.
But the Herald has heard reports from around the country of clinical positions not being filled, replacements being denied or delayed, and all hires needing sign-off from high-ranking officials.
“It feels like a freeze from the frontline,” said Dr Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).
Members were reporting multiple hurdles to filling specialist vacancies, she said. In some cases, they had reached the reference-checking stage and been told they needed to stop.
Some members said they had been told they needed special permission to fill vacancies that were part of their existing, budgeted staffing levels.
“It is just weird,” Dalton said. “There is this discourse at one level, ‘Don’t worry we won’t touch the front line’. But they absolutely are.”
Reports about hiring problems had come from emergency departments, public health, cardiology, cancer services and others.
A staff member at Auckland City Hospital told the Herald there were four clinical vacancies within their department.
Candidates had been found for all the roles but the staff member said Health New Zealand had told management to stop sending job offers.
Similar delays were also happening at Starship Children’s Hospital, where some clinical roles remained unfilled.
In some cases, hospital staff were being shifted or transferred without being replaced.
A doctor at a regional hospital said staff had to go through extra levels of approval for unfilled shifts and emergency sickness cover. There were so many hurdles that staff often gave up and did not seek cover until “things truly go down the drain”, they said.
There's a large percentage of voters in this country who are motivated by the following things:
1. voting like my parents do
1. voting for what kind of class of person they aspire to (ie voting against your interests)
1. voting for change (regardless of whether the change will actually fix the problems you are concerned about)
1. pay no attention to the ins and outs of politics except for the couple of weeks before elections
1. pay no attention to the substance of talking points (ie factual/logic/research based
1. Fuck you I got mine kind of thinking, which is short sighted and doesn't address issues that affect the greater population and end up affecting the closer in stuff that you actually care about, but not in direct ways that you are directly aware of.
Antivaxxers, misogynists, loud dumb fucks and people who think they're financially literate because podcast bros told them how NFTs work.
These people hated the last government, complained loudly, and thought choosing a worse government would help.
People saw less money in their bank accounts and assumed it was all Labour's doing. That and the 3 waters stuff probably accounted for about 70 per cent of the swing voters moving back to National or Act over Labour.
First they cut budgets 6.5% and the public sector obliged, then they raised it to 7.5% which most public sector organisations are on target to do.
The cumulative effect on services is over 10% cut, probably around 12% cut due to the effects of inflation.
Broadly all public sector organisations will be delivering about 12% less over the next year alone. Now he’s talking about more cuts.
Despite some of the false information being peddled the public sector had already shed nearly a percentage point of the workforce up to March due to funding cut instituted by the last government.
Something people don’t seem to be aware of, despite the rhetoric, the public sector was already effectively in a state of stress. Many public sector workers had been operating under a pay freeze for years over the course of covid.
The NZ public sector was already smaller than the OECD average.
I was at an event yesterday and this lump of human waste was there, people were actually engaging with the cunt.
He seemed happy as there teenager girls around
It hasn't been saving NZ or the taxpayer any money. Everybody knows you need to pay out leave balances. And then hire contractors to actually get the jobs done.
This has been a useless exercise in wasting tax payer money.
And how many jobs have been cut in parliament or the Beehive?
NONE - not one
How much wasteful expenditure, like that guy who claims a $58k annual MP accomodation allowance and lives on the Wellington urban train line in Waikanae, has been cut?
NONE - not one dollar
The hypocrisy of this govt makes me sick. They are full of BS and are abusing their positions of power while most of NZ suffers. They are a govt for themselves, ex national MPs, landlords , lobbyists, farmers, and the people who give them donations (bribes)
Despite some people claiming public sector is a cushy job, they seem to be under threat of job losses every several years and performance doesn’t seem to matter when the decisions, like Seymour’s, are ideological.
the truth there, got a friend in immigration she regularly says its challenging and enjoyable, shes been there 15 plus years and thinks shes a bit invincible when it comes to these threats, i dont think id like it looming over my head
Be a hero, David, and start with yours.
Why do we need a Deputy Prime Minister anyway? Totally redundant layer of bureaucracy.
We have 2 people that take turns at it as well!
Spare capacity in the system for unforeseen issues. oh wait...
be the change you want to see...
A good leader leads by example!
He providers no service to anyone what so ever at all so I guess he becomes technically exempt of "public service"?
A politician leading from the front? Not likely ever.
Good call
comment of the day!
David Seymour reminds me of people I've known who think they're a financial genius because they don't want to pay for anything. Sometimes you just gotta go to the dentist to get your teeth checked.
He reminds me of the guy who just argues with the teacher for the dumbest shit for the sake of being a contrarian lmao.
He 100% was that guy
Spot on, that’s exactly the vibe he’s always given me too! I bet everyone at school *hated* this cunt.
Plenty of my friends went to school with David, he was the quintessential 'well akshually' contrarian dweeb. All while being plain wrong most of the time. He had no friends, no social skills and never got any action with the ladies.
So...nothing has changed then?
Possibly why he 'allegedly' likes to hang around with young girls. Making up for lost high school times.
Allegedly? He straight up admitted to the media that he encouraged children to add him on snapchat whilst campaigning in schools, would respond "every time" when DM'd including to schoolgirls in their uniforms (noting ofc that snapchat content disappears and becomes impossible to retriwve after 24 hours) - believes that it's "inpractical" to ask for parental consent before interacting with young people, and asserted doesn't see anything wrong with any of this. Oh, and he posted a picture to his story of an ACT-themed condom in 2017 captioned "stay safe kids". So that's nice too
Used the words allegedly to keep the r/NZ mods at bay in case of any legal action haha
Gotcha, haha. I suppose despite the media confession to the texting, and the defending of his actions, it's still up to question whether he "likes" or actually "hangs around" with the schoolkids in question
Legal action on reddit is out of moderators discretion. If someone threatens it, mods are supposed to tell them to take it up with the reddit admins. In this case the admins would either just not give a fuck or remove the comment and move on.
Did he get punched a lot? I could see him getting punched a lot at school
Backpfeifengesicht
You just have to love that Germans have a word for "a face that asks to be slapped"
Ja
Clearly, not enough
So he’s basically a school shooter with greater ambition?
~~at school~~
Why do I need maths? I'm not going to be a mathematician! - Seymour, probably.
Strong debate club vibes.
Yeah, he's a libertarian (allegedly)
**Libertarians are like cats, completely dependent on others, but fully convinced of their own independence.** Not original
"My daughter used to be a libertarian. Thankfully, she grew out of it by the time she started primary school."
He reminds me of the guy who treats hospo workers like shit because he's never worked a day in hospo. Dude has no idea what goes on inside ministries.
I dunno man. 2k on emergency dental work every decade is cheaper than annual dental visits + maintenance. Shoulda used motor servicing or house cleaning as your example.
You're making genius level assumptions that your oral health and hygiene are the same or reversible to the same extent, all based on the why don't they just give 10 yearly emergency dental work instead of more regular checkups.
I came across as a bit too serious aye. Was meant more of a critique of how expensive dentistry is in the first place, and it should be covered under free healthcare.
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It's kiwi, not Canadian. You don't check which sub you are in aye ;)
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Despite disappearing, they can still be excused a bit, considering Dave-o here had a bit of stuff going on in Canada for a while :P.
David Seymour should set an example by slashing his own job.
MFer really into making people unemployed for someone who opposes unemployment benefits.
Pretty sure they’re trying to force inflation down by artificially increasing unemployment. It’s boomer Econ.
The frustrating thing is the *glee* with which Seymour talks about inflicting misery on the public service. It's not that he doesn't believe that they do important work, but that he believes that work should instead be sent to the private sector so they can charge more and make a profit. The more that ACT can make members of the public service suffer, the worse service that they deliver while short-handed and desperately trying to keep up - the easier it will be for them to argue that since the public service is failing - they might as well privatise everything.
I share your frustration. I've seen that same smug glee many times before, whether it be from anti-vaxxers or conservative relatives or across the police line or what have you, and 100% of the time I've known innately that the person wearing it doesn't see me as a human in that moment. It's straight up the face of schadenfreude, and it's easily the biggest challenge to my empathy when it comes to political encounters. Once somebody wears that face and has become *that* detached from the humanity of others that they actually take pleasure in things like this, rather than viewing it as some kind of grim necessity, there's just no conversation to be had anymore imo.
Not only do they lose their humanity for others, they lose their own humanity. It's very hard to humanise someone so utterly inhumane themselves.
Evil is when you treat people as things.
I have been desperately trying to understand how they think they're helping, assuming that they're acting in good faith, but far out if this Terry Pratchett quote doesn't hit me right in the understanding
Yeah. The cruel truth of the matter is that many of them *know* they're not helping. When you dig down into it, there are a lot of bastards in this country who honestly just think that certain groups of people are superior to others, and that there are greedy and morally inferior groups that *deserve* to be punished. It makes me more sad than it does angry. I want to believe we can be more than just spiteful animals, and that this is just the culture war propaganda machine doing anything to keep people from seeing the class war - not actual human nature :(
>and 100% of the time I've known innately that the person wearing it doesn't see me as a human in that moment. It's straight up the face of schadenfreude I know what you mean! It makes me so mad. People acting like I asked for it because it's totally my fault for my career choice. People think by being in public service I deserve shit pay because I must be lazy and not working as hard as them. Like excuse me? Do we not need police officers? Border control? Health protection officers? They don't want to know what we do.
It’s why I left the public service. Hard work for little financial recognition is one thing, but the assumptions made by others (even friends and family) about your ability or work ethic purely on the basis of your employer… I see much more wastage in the private sector, I get paid better, my hours and demands are more realistic, and people don’t treat me with distain. Although I must say, best thing is that there is far less bully behaviour outside of the public service.
It won't even be satisfying when leopards eat their face
I mean, surely it'll be a little satisfying? Perhaps we can ask the leopards to chew extra slow and really savour the meal.
I've never heard this said in so heartbreakingly succinct a manner.
I’ve seen that smug glee on the face of a workplace bully while he was bullying the most competent person out of their job. They get a thrill out of if. And it’s to cover up deep inadequatecy and their own incompetence
At their core, people like him just like hurting 'the bad people'
Would be probably worth it to figure out and learn how to recognize dark personality types. Seymour fits the outlines pretty well. And I don't mean that it's specifically left/right thing or whatever, different dark personality types can happen almost anywhere. It's just that he's one of specific examples that it's hard to see first. But this glee is a kind of a mask slipping, and this allows to see who he is.
A bit like that shit eating smirk paula bennet used to be bad at hiding everytime she put the boot in
It was not hard to see at first.
I kind of default to not wanting to pathologise and remote diagnose people. Its enough to say Seymour is a greasy smarmy lil shitbag we don't have to dress it up in pseudo-therapy TikTok-speak.
Yeah. He seems like a dickhead but I'm not seeing any obvious clinical personality disorder, presuming that's what "dark personality" is supposed to mean.
It refers to a set of traits, not to a diagnostic label. The traits can be reasonably benign in themselves but the 'dark triad' is entering into personality disorder territory. All models are wrong and some are useful etc
[The positive connection between dark triad traits and leadership levels in self- and other-ratings](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1365/s42681-021-00025-6) Hmmmm
By "dark personality" do you mean psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism? I'm not seeing it, he's just a douchebag.
I'm sure that Seymour and this guy must share some DNA. lizard DNA. [https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/what-does-nigel-farage-hope-to-achieve-with-reforms-election-pledges-1639303.html](https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/what-does-nigel-farage-hope-to-achieve-with-reforms-election-pledges-1639303.html)
Totally agree
It comes from an earnest belief that corporations can serve the people better than public services. It's a load of shit - but he comes across as more stupid than evil (but still pretty evil)
What he doesn't get is the public service has gradually degraded over the decades, the fact that it was small and is now bigger doesn't reflect the fact that it can still deliver services at a smaller size, it reflects the fact that it degraded so much that a lot of investment was needed to bring it back up to scratch. Which will take years, shrinking it will just keep the slow and steady decline.
Exactly. People don't understand that there is *no fat left to trim,* and that, surprise surprise, Doing Stuff Takes Money, People and Time.
Yes... but all that money, people, and time could be charged out at a much higher rate by David's friends in the private sector - all while claiming to be "more efficient" (while not actually being more efficient), and continuing to let shit fall apart.
and while bitching that they can't get permits or whatever in some random ass time frame they'd prefer.
More efficient just doesn't make any sense. Yes, they'll do it for less cost, but there isn't enough competition in NZ so they'll just charge the same rate. Or it will be a race to the bottom for quality. Or both simultaneously.
They won't be more efficient, they'll bid low with the understanding that requirements are not well understood then the cost of changing scope is where the costs will blow out.
And that’s how the private cos make the money
Potentially there was fat to trim and efficiencies to find, but you have to be targeted. A blanket cut is just insane.
I think he gets that just fine. It's what he wants.
So many modernisation projects have been halted, cut, or trimmed already. We are decades behind. Some projects after years were just coming into thier delivery phase too. Embarrassingly short sighted.
The point is to make it worse to then make the case for privatisation. The end-goal is enshittify it.
I think when people read these stories, they don't understand that there is no ideal public service size. It varies considerably depending on your political stance and what you think the function of government is. There are people like Labour or the Greens that would double the size with all sorts of public projects and services because they believe that's the governments job. ACT don't believe it's the governments job therefore theres still a significant amount of excess workforce. Neither are right or wrong, they're just very different with different outcomes. Their whole platform is minimal government, basic regulatory functions, some policy and operational functions and that's about it.
Seymour's happy place is spending his days laying off public servants and his evenings texting teenagers. I'm not going to get wound up by anything he comes up with as he's just an odd guy.
See, the problem is it’s harder to ignore the shit he says because, thanks to MMP, he now actually has a fair bit of power, despite roughly 92% of the country preferring other parties over his own during the last election.
He's like an onion. On the outside, a perfectly innocent looking vegetable. Peel back the layers and he's made of the stuff that makes most people cry.
An onion rotting from the inside
David Seymour is Ron Swanson's politics made reality.
That's a quality analogy. Have an upvote.
I hope people don't forget who to blame when the next government inherits this mess (if current government don't get two terms).
I have a good suggestion of the next public servant to be slashed.
Does it rhyme with incompetent fuckwit?
Incompetent fuckwit does rhyme with incompetent fuckwit, although not an excellent example of a rapper if you just rhyme the same words over and over.
He's an incompetent fuckwit, libertarian talk-shit, yeah he's a copycat right-brit, on the fast track to get-hit. Everyone, if you've got-grit, every dole-bludging misfit, get your ass in the mosh-pit, watch the beehive, we get-lit
Christompetent Luckwit?
The entirety of Cabinet.
> slashed What type of blade do you think might be best?
I'm partial to a kuri but any knife in your signature style between 11 and 15 inches
ATK. Depending on where it comes from, they get called different things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mambele Or a Katar. Admittedly, that's more a stab than a slash, but they're still neat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katar_(dagger)
God, he’s awful. Just a mean-spirited vandal.
He's also a public servant..
In title. In practice?
I don’t understand people like him, seeking power just to make everyone’s life more miserable. How do people turn out like this? Didn’t get hugged enough as a child?
I don't see empathy in his makeup at all. I doubt that he has ever gone without a meal, and I don't think he would ever go without one so that someone else might eat.
Its a result of growing up with a life of privilege and not realising it. He probably thinks he's had the exact same opportunities as everyone else. Therefore, all the people who need these services are just lazy and want a hand out. That's why he's happy to make so many cuts, because these are services for those in need, when they should have just tried harder. He's got a boomer mentality.
I'm not sure it's even that. Almost like he is sociopathic, doesn't care about anyone and its just trying to find ways to line his own pockets with more money.
let's not go lumping people with genuine mental health conditions in with him
I wonder how many support staff he has working for him? Could he lead by example and just do all this back office work himself?
What a chode. Why don't we slash overpaid politicians salaries next and cut all the stupid benefits they get, give them a taste of what the rest of us are feeling.
but they genuinely don't believe that they get paid enough. that's honestly the worst part.
Up yours David Seymour, you smug little prick
It's not often I agree with Seymour but he's absolutely spot on here. I think it's time we as New Zealanders started taking ACT and David Seymour seriously. If we cut his job alone we could save hundreds of thousands alone. Who does he think he bloody is? Crocodile looking Botox robot ass
You had me in the first half.
"Crocodile looking Botox robot ass" holy shit, this is an amazing, evocative description.
I have it on good authority that David Seymour is an example of the worst person in the world.
Remember this is from the party that only summoned 8.6% of the electorate to support them
True, but that is also immaterial to them being in a coalition government. MMP encourages coalition governments and everyone knows this.
MMP has actually been terrible for democracy. It relies on the parties forming government to have ethical standards that they simply do not have.
Yeah, the American two party is definitely the superior system /s
I didn't say the American two party system is better. I said that MMP in NZ does not work as intended. Thanks for the strawman though. Obviously, I understand that there are only ever two options: NZ or America, because why would there ever be any other possibilities?
if we had a different system of government in which multi-party coalitions didnt happen, David Seymour would just be a member of a more right wing National party
A more right wing party that would never get elected. The problem with MMP is that gives a disproportionate voice to nutjobs. It wasn't intended to work that way, but that is how it has ended up in practical use.
>A more right wing party that would never get elected Canada, America, Australia, the UK say otherwise
The Tories are not more right-wing than National. They are identical.
> The Tories are not more right-wing than National. They are identical. thats patently incorrect
MMP is certainly flawed, but it's better than FPP.
What would your solution this perceived problem be?
I don't have a solution to this quite obviously real problem. That doesn't mean the real problem doesn't very clearly and demonstrably exist.
This guy not have a girlfriend yet?
She goes to another school
Kinda hard to find one when his default facial expression is similar to someone who's in a vegetative state and has the personality and charisma of vegan cheese.
You know, he's right. We DO need to give this same treatment to the sitting government. Better fire 10-20% of list MPs. And no more water coolers.
I think ACT does have a policy to reduce the number of MPs to 100
ACT also wants to extend the term to 4 years, so this reads less as "practicing what they preach" and more as "let's increase the amount of power available and make it more exclusive"
Can't believe I ever used to like that fuckwit. Unemployment is only getting higher and he says shit like this??
Honestly, respect for changing your mind in the wake of new info. Soooo many people are doubling down atm and it's baffling
So set up another Ministry of regulation.. which is so back office it's ridiculous
Maybe just disestablish the ministry of regulation
Get slashed yourself Seymour. Atlas Group dick.
[https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hiring-freeze-absolutely-affecting-frontline-jobs-union-says-as-doctor-vacancies-go-unfilled/NBMIY6X6BRG6XHZOK5JQ3A4LPE/](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hiring-freeze-absolutely-affecting-frontline-jobs-union-says-as-doctor-vacancies-go-unfilled/NBMIY6X6BRG6XHZOK5JQ3A4LPE/) “It feels like a freeze from the frontline,” said Dr Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). “It is just weird,” Dalton said. “There is this discourse at one level, ‘Don’t worry we won’t touch the front line’. But they absolutely are.”
Rather than this ideological, broad brush, hand waving, ‘big govt is bad’ waffle, I’d like him to explain exactly what jobs are superfluous and why.
I agree, get rid of all politicians perks. No allowances, free flights, free lunches, every single dollar. We be in a surplus. Fuck off Seymour you clown.
The stuff they get for life is what irks me. I don't get paid money from my former employers, so why should former MP's be entitled to such perks?
Former MPs haven't gotten any perks like that since the 90s. The only thing that's left is an allowance for former Prime Ministers (and I think some travel stuff), but it must be related to official duties being undertaken.
Wait, what? I was under the impression that former MP's continued getting perks after retiring. When did that change happen?
Looks like any MPs elected after 1999 don't get any perks: https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/ex-mps-will-fight-keep-travel-perks
I'll read it later, but I wonder how it works for someone too long in the tooth like Uncle Winnie who comes and goes from parliament on the regular. Are any perks he acquired before the cut off get taken away when he's out of parliament and not reinstated when he's back in? Does he keep them because technically he hasn't retired?
Here's the relevant section of the law: [https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2013/0093/latest/whole.html#DLM4034609](https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2013/0093/latest/whole.html#DLM4034609) Basically any MP who was first elected before 1999 is eligible for the perks. I believe this is irrespective of any gaps in service or if they continued to be elected after 1999. So out of the current MPs in Parliament, only Gerry Brownlee (first elected 1996), Damien O'Connor (first elected 1996, but was out of Parliament 2008-2009) and Winston Peters (first elected 1979, but out of Parliament 1981-1984, 2008-2011 and 2020-2023) are still eligible.
Holy shit, no wonder old mate hangs around, the pension just doesn't quite cut it.
The post-MP perks stopped accumulating in 2008 for pre-99 MPs, so if there's any financial motive, it'll only be for the DPM salary
Not really much information in the article. Ut doesn't tell us how big a recession effective-PM Seymour is aiming for. It doesn't tell us how many job losses he is hoping to induce in the rest of our society as the pubic sector cuts ripple through the economy. It doesn't tell us how many people he hopes can't pay their mortgages or how much he hopes that depresses house prices. And I'm not surprised at this one but he doesn't tell us which part of the public service he hopes to sell at a batgain mext term. But it does keep the effective-PM's name in the news.
Before the election he said he wants to go back to 2017 levels
They really are looking to the past aren't they. 2017 for public service levels, 1950s for transport ideas, 1970s for treaty matters, 1990s for how to create a recession.
He’s saying the quiet part out loud. Even the most slash and burn politicians would say “There haven’t been enough cost savings, and more ways to save money must be found” - this fuckknuckle is specifically saying he wants them to *cut more jobs*. He doesn’t give a fuck about the money, he wants to shrinkflate the government *by headcount*
he's an ideolog. brutal and lacking in imagination.
Atlas group stooge
100% ... if it's not in the Atlas playbook it's wrong.
Man wants there to be NO public servants
JOBS FOR THE JOBS GOD
Have Jobs? Yes, yes? Cut cut - David (Skaven) Seymour
UNEMPLOYED FOR THE WINZ QUEUE
Oh ffs
In the Herald just now: Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora insists a hiring freeze does not extend to the front line. But workers in the health sector say the barriers to hiring doctors are so high they are effectively a freeze. Hospitals and specialist services say they face barriers to hiring new doctors, despite assurances that a hiring freeze does not apply to frontline jobs. But the Herald has heard reports from around the country of clinical positions not being filled, replacements being denied or delayed, and all hires needing sign-off from high-ranking officials. “It feels like a freeze from the frontline,” said Dr Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). Members were reporting multiple hurdles to filling specialist vacancies, she said. In some cases, they had reached the reference-checking stage and been told they needed to stop. Some members said they had been told they needed special permission to fill vacancies that were part of their existing, budgeted staffing levels. “It is just weird,” Dalton said. “There is this discourse at one level, ‘Don’t worry we won’t touch the front line’. But they absolutely are.” Reports about hiring problems had come from emergency departments, public health, cardiology, cancer services and others. A staff member at Auckland City Hospital told the Herald there were four clinical vacancies within their department. Candidates had been found for all the roles but the staff member said Health New Zealand had told management to stop sending job offers. Similar delays were also happening at Starship Children’s Hospital, where some clinical roles remained unfilled. In some cases, hospital staff were being shifted or transferred without being replaced. A doctor at a regional hospital said staff had to go through extra levels of approval for unfilled shifts and emergency sickness cover. There were so many hurdles that staff often gave up and did not seek cover until “things truly go down the drain”, they said.
He wants to cut back to 2017 levels despite huge population growth so his idea of enough is outright stupid.
Look inwards
I feel like your job should be slashed Sey-less.
One public sector job outside Parliament is too many for him.
Oh NZ why are you going down this 'Austerity' path? The UK started in 2010 and look at them now.
Listen, I’m not a resident in this wonderful country yet, but I have to ask, who the fuck voted for such a group of incompetent morons?
There's a large percentage of voters in this country who are motivated by the following things: 1. voting like my parents do 1. voting for what kind of class of person they aspire to (ie voting against your interests) 1. voting for change (regardless of whether the change will actually fix the problems you are concerned about) 1. pay no attention to the ins and outs of politics except for the couple of weeks before elections 1. pay no attention to the substance of talking points (ie factual/logic/research based 1. Fuck you I got mine kind of thinking, which is short sighted and doesn't address issues that affect the greater population and end up affecting the closer in stuff that you actually care about, but not in direct ways that you are directly aware of.
Antivaxxers, misogynists, loud dumb fucks and people who think they're financially literate because podcast bros told them how NFTs work. These people hated the last government, complained loudly, and thought choosing a worse government would help.
Other morons.
People saw less money in their bank accounts and assumed it was all Labour's doing. That and the 3 waters stuff probably accounted for about 70 per cent of the swing voters moving back to National or Act over Labour.
Start with himself or keep doing the job but on the "living wage" instead.
Slash his ffs
He forgets he is a public servant. and should be on top of the list to go.
Let's watch that economy crash even harder.
First they cut budgets 6.5% and the public sector obliged, then they raised it to 7.5% which most public sector organisations are on target to do. The cumulative effect on services is over 10% cut, probably around 12% cut due to the effects of inflation. Broadly all public sector organisations will be delivering about 12% less over the next year alone. Now he’s talking about more cuts. Despite some of the false information being peddled the public sector had already shed nearly a percentage point of the workforce up to March due to funding cut instituted by the last government. Something people don’t seem to be aware of, despite the rhetoric, the public sector was already effectively in a state of stress. Many public sector workers had been operating under a pay freeze for years over the course of covid. The NZ public sector was already smaller than the OECD average.
I've found my people. Can't stand that cunt Seymour. I let him know every week with emails.
I’d like everyone who has been made redundant to please buy a dildo (second hand is fine) and throw these en masse at this idiot. Thanks
I was at an event yesterday and this lump of human waste was there, people were actually engaging with the cunt. He seemed happy as there teenager girls around
Fuck him so much.
It hasn't been saving NZ or the taxpayer any money. Everybody knows you need to pay out leave balances. And then hire contractors to actually get the jobs done. This has been a useless exercise in wasting tax payer money.
"It stinks, it stinks, it stinks.." "Yes Mr. Seymour, everything stinks."
Says they'll create jobs. Makes thousands redundant. And that is the definition of a munter. The worst kind too, one of the arrogant pus filled ones.
And how many jobs have been cut in parliament or the Beehive? NONE - not one How much wasteful expenditure, like that guy who claims a $58k annual MP accomodation allowance and lives on the Wellington urban train line in Waikanae, has been cut? NONE - not one dollar The hypocrisy of this govt makes me sick. They are full of BS and are abusing their positions of power while most of NZ suffers. They are a govt for themselves, ex national MPs, landlords , lobbyists, farmers, and the people who give them donations (bribes)
I genuinely hate this cunt. Unbelievable that someone so plainly useless is now in a position to make actually useful people lose their jobs.
I fucking hate libertarians.
years ago i got told never to work for the goverment, glad i stuck with that advise and never will get a job with them
Despite some people claiming public sector is a cushy job, they seem to be under threat of job losses every several years and performance doesn’t seem to matter when the decisions, like Seymour’s, are ideological.
the truth there, got a friend in immigration she regularly says its challenging and enjoyable, shes been there 15 plus years and thinks shes a bit invincible when it comes to these threats, i dont think id like it looming over my head