Act Party leader David Seymour says he’s always behaved online as he is in person, courteous, responsive and polite. Photo / Alex Burton
THREE KEY FACTS
Barry Soper is Newstalk ZB’s senior political correspondent.
OPINION
It’s not often that you would feel the need to jump to the defence of a politician, they’re usually more than capable of looking after themselves, with a few exceptions.
One politician who isn’t an exception, in terms of looking after himself that is, is the straight as a die David Seymour, Act’s leader. What you see is what you get.
And that’s what teenage schoolkids got when they contacted Seymour on social media over the years. He’s politely responded to them, saying he’s always behaved online as he is in person, courteous, responsive and polite.
But the fact he even engaged with the kids has some sections of the media in high dudgeon, how could a middle-aged politician reply to questions from schoolgirls, some as young as 14?
The answer is simple, they asked him a question but then, so did schoolboys, which to the ghouls seems to be less offensive.
The media outlets, which unfortunately included Newshub, in its final few days of life, ran a breathless report suggesting Seymour making contact with schoolgirls back in 2016 was in some way sleazy.
The content of the messages wasn’t inappropriate, so what’s the point of the story?
Well after eight years the anonymous mother of a then 14-year-old is now calling for guidelines around how politicians communicate with young people on social media.
A former Epsom Girls Grammar student said she too was a 14-year-old when she started messaging Seymour on Snapchat. The television piece showed young people crowded around a phone cheering that Seymour actually replied.
Clearly it was seen as something of a badge of honour to get a politician to reply. All harmless fun, most of us would think.
But not that anonymous mum who’s complained so long after the contact, saying the fact a much older politician was direct messaging them at all was bizarre.
A former Auckland Grammar student was quoted saying he messaged Seymour when he was 15. He said, at the time, it was hilarious.
He remembers being thankful and going around the school, feeling like a big deal, showing everyone that the Act leader had replied to him.
Like all the others, he said messages from Seymour were never inappropriate.
It seems to me like a political hit job which hopefully will backfire on all of those who have bought into it, although we will never know because they’ve hidden behind the cloak of anonymity.
The reason for stirring the pot so long after the event is only for them to know.
If there was any grooming done, which of course there wasn’t in that sense, it would have been to encourage the young to take an interest in politics.
It was never Seymour who initiated the contact. He was on Snapchat because his party used to spend election campaign money with the site.
And what if it was a female politician replying to questions from schoolkids? You would likely never have heard a squeak.
Apparently, Dame Jacinda Ardern did it all the time!
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