Q&A interview with Act leader and deputy prime minister-in-waiting David Seymour: Q: If you could take three Māori to dinner, who would they be and why? DS: I generally wouldn’t take people to dinner based on their race, but if I was going to do that, I’d take Kipa Munroe from Ngāti Rēhia, Karen Chhour (Act MP) and Nicole McKee (Act MP). Kipa is knowledgeable and has a wicked sense of humour and Karen and Nicole are incredibly real, driven and motivated. They are wonderful people who happen to be Māori.
Q: What does Māoriness mean to you? DS: It’s one of the strands that makes up my blended ancestry. I’m part Scottish and part English, it makes me think about the past. My Māori ancestors sailed across the Pacific Ocean with extraordinary skill and ability and built a society here in New Zealand.
I think where I might be different from the way some people would answer that question is that being Māori doesn’t bind me. I could also look at various parts of my Scottish or English history. It’s only about 400 years since the English were burning people at the stake on suspicion of being witches.
I don’t really want that part of my English history. I feel I can pick and choose and I feel the same about my Māori background. Q: You say your Māori background doesn’t bind you, but neither does your European influence? DS: That’s precisely the point and that, that’s why I don’t have to wear a kilt, I don’t have to be a monarchist and I also don.
