Security stops Act leader David Seymour driving Land Rover up Parliament steps

Act Party leader David Seymour is likely to be in Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee’s bad books after he drove up Parliament’s steps in a historic Land Rover before being ordered to stop by security.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said of the incident that he was “not that interested in political sideshows” but wouldn’t comment further, saying it was a matter for Brownlee to address.

Seymour, also the Regulations Minister, was on Parliament’s forecourt this afternoon admiring New Zealand’s first-ever Land Rover, built 77 years ago, that was being driven up the country by members of Drive 4 Hearts, who were raising funding for new heart valve devices for children which don’t need replacing with further surgery.

The same vehicle was brought to Parliament more than 40 years ago and was driven up the steps to showcase its off-road capabilities.

Seymour today sought to replicate that moment and drove the Land Rover up a couple of Parliament’s steps before security quickly intervened.

“Don’t! Get off! Off,” one security staffer said to Seymour.

“What’s the problem?” Seymour asked from the front seat.

“The Speaker has said no,” the staffer replied bluntly.

Act leader David Seymour was told off by Parliament security for driving a historic Land Rover up the steps of Parliament. Photo / Adam Pearse

“Oh I didn’t know that,” Seymour admitted.

“Reverse please,” the staffer said.

“Turns out the Speaker said we couldn’t do it, oh well,” Seymour explained to waiting reporters.

After exiting the vehicle, Seymour said he was under the impression Brownlee had given permission.

“There’s always a bit of red tape trying to stop you doing something for a good cause in this country, isn’t there.”

Seymour said he had been keen to see how many steps the old Land Rover could climb.

“They told us the Speaker had explicitly said no, no one else told me that, they should have said earlier.

“You shouldn’t need to get permission to do every sort of thing in New Zealand.”

Seymour then said MPs shouldn’t need permission to drive a vehicle up the steps of Parliament because it was their workplace, particularly if it was for a good cause.

“If you’re a Member of Parliament, yeah, I think people can use their judgment.”

The same privilege didn’t extend to Parliament staff in Seymour’s view, who said they worked for MPs.

Brownlee’s office said he would be releasing a statement on the incident “in due course”. It was understood it was more likely Brownlee would address it in the House tomorrow.

During his post-Cabinet press conference this afternoon, Luxon said he wasn’t interested in the incident, deeming it a “political sideshow”.

National MP Shane Ardern drives a tractor up Parliament steps during the anti-fart tax protest in September, 2003. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In 2003, National MP and Taranaki farmer Shane Ardern famously drove an elderly tractor called Myrtle up the same steps during a protest against the then-proposed flatulence tax.

He did so to cheers from a crowd of several hundred protesters.

Police charged Ardern with disorderly behaviour but he was eventually let off with a warning.

During the same protest in September of that year, another National MP, Sir Lockwood Smith, led two cows on to Parliament’s steps. One left its mark on the stairs, to the amusement of the crowd.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.