Letter to the Prime Minister re his Deputy's conduct
We write today to fully support the serious concerns that the brave wahine Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau raised in her letter to you dated 23 June 2025
The Rt Hon Christopher Luxon
Prime Minister
Tēnā koe Prime Minister,
We write today to fully support the serious concerns that the brave wahine Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau raised in her letter to you dated 23 June 2025. We formally urge you to take immediate action regarding the conduct of Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, whose recent actions represent a deliberate campaign of online harassment against university academics. This behaviour is a blatant and dangerous misuse of his ministerial power and a clear breach of the Cabinet Manual, which requires the highest standards of conduct from its members. It is also highly hypocritical as the Deputy Prime Minister promotes steps to ensure academics have academic freedom, but is here inciting hatred towards them in direct and flagrant contradiction to that end.
Robust political debate is a cornerstone of our democracy, but David Seymour's actions cannot be defended under the guise of free speech at all. He made no substantive good faith attempt to engage with the academics' research or arguments; instead, he used his significant public platform to ridicule individuals, misrepresent their positions, and incite a targeted internet pile-on. This is not debate; it is pure harassment. For a Minister of the Crown to encourage such a campaign against private citizens is a gross misuse of his office, chills academic freedom, and undermines the very fabric of respectful public discourse that government members are sworn to uphold. This conduct patently breaches the standards of integrity, fairness, and responsibility outlined in sections 2.53 and 2.56 of the Cabinet Manual as Tory Whanau observed.
As Prime Minister, the responsibility to uphold the integrity of your Cabinet rests solely with you. The actions of your Deputy have jeopardised the safety and well-being of the individuals involved and have set a chilling precedent that threatens any citizen who might dare to voice dissent. We urge you to take swift and firm disciplinary measures. This should include formally sanctioning the Deputy Prime Minister to send a clear message that such breaches of public trust will not be tolerated. Upholding the Cabinet Manual is non-negotiable, and we expect you to enforce its standards to defend our democratic values from this unacceptable conduct.
Ngā mihi nui
Paul Thistoll
CEO
Rights Aotearoa