Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has used his final interview of 2025 to reflect on a year of political change, personal conviction, coalition tensions, and what he sees as a turning point for how New Zealand governs itself.

Speaking to Chris Lynch Media, Seymour said the past year had reinforced his belief that government needed to be leaner, clearer in its purpose, and more accountable, while warning that identity politics and division were becoming a growing risk to social cohesion.

Seymour said one of the biggest challenges facing New Zealand was not a lack of ambition, but a system weighed down by too many ministers, departments, and overlapping responsibilities.

He said governments were often quick to signal intent, but slow to deliver outcomes.

“We have far too many portfolios, far too many ministries, and not enough clarity about who is actually responsible when things go wrong,” Seymour said.

He said the creation of a new super ministry combining cities, environment, regions and transport was an attempt to address that problem by forcing accountability into a single structure rather than spreading responsibility across multiple agencies.

But Seymour said the issue went much deeper than one new ministry.

“New Zealand has 41 departments, 28 ministers, and more than 80 portfolios. When you break it down, it becomes very hard for voters to know who to praise when things go right and who to blame when they go wrong.”

Seymour said he believed New Zealand should significantly reduce the number of ministries and ministers, arguing that fewer decision makers would lead to faster delivery and clearer accountability.

“We should be cutting portfolios back to those that actually control a department and a budget. If you are not responsible for taxpayer money, you are not really accountable for outcomes.”

Asked about one of his most quoted remarks of the year, Seymour said he stood firmly by his statement that he would never move on from the idea that all people are equal.

He said the backlash to that comment reflected how far public debate had shifted.

“The alternative to believing people are equal is believing in discrimination. I think that is wrong.”

Seymour said New Zealand had drifted away from a shared national story and toward a framework where people were increasingly defined by group identity rather than individual worth.

“When people are reduced to groups, they lose their value as individuals. That is dangerous, because once people stop seeing others as individuals, it becomes easier to justify hatred and violence.”

He said New Zealand needed a more inclusive story that recognised the country as a place built by successive waves of settlers, each taking risks to create better lives for their families.

“Every New Zealander has a migration story. Some go back generations, some are recent, but the common thread is taking a risk for a better future.”

Seymour said that shared experience should be a unifying force, rather than a dividing one.

When asked about regrets, Seymour said he wished the Treaty Principles Bill had passed and said he continued to believe the country was heading down a divisive path if issues of equality were not addressed openly.

He also said he would always argue for lower government spending, saying rising costs were hurting households.

“As long as the government consumes as much as it does, families feel poorer. That is just reality.”

Despite controversy surrounding the Treaty debate and large protests in Wellington, Seymour rejected the idea that avoiding difficult conversations would reduce division.

“If you do nothing, the problems do not go away. They get worse.”

Looking back on 2025, Seymour said he was most proud of the ACT Party team and the shift from ACT being seen as a one person operation to a party with multiple high profile ministers driving reform.

He pointed to changes in resource management, firearms law, farming regulations, court delays, and child protection as examples of where ACT ministers had pushed through reforms despite resistance.

“We are not afraid to take tough positions based on principle and stick with them.”

Seymour said the political landscape had changed under MMP, with smaller parties no longer fading inside government.

He said ACT and New Zealand First were both polling higher than on election night in 2023, challenging the long held view that minor parties were swallowed by coalition politics.

Asked about his working relationship with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, Seymour described it as functional and effective.

“We get things done. You do not pass this volume of legislation unless the coalition is working.”

Seymour rejected suggestions that he and Peters were running the country instead of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, saying that framing misunderstood how democracy worked.

“The people of New Zealand run the country. Governments exist to serve them.”

He rated Luxon’s leadership highly, saying the Prime Minister had faced economic pressure, a challenging global environment, and the complexity of a three party coalition.

“It has been a tough year, but I think he has handled it well.”

With polling showing pressure on National but continued strength for ACT, Seymour said voters were responding to consistency and conviction.

“We take principled positions and we see them through. Sometimes that takes years, but when change comes, it comes because we were prepared to argue for it.”

As Parliament breaks for summer, Seymour said he was looking forward to time off, rest, and resetting ahead of 2026.

“After a year like this, sleep is underrated.”

He said despite the noise of politics, he remained optimistic about the country’s direction.

“We are a nation of people who take risks, build things, and solve problems. That has not changed.”