Since his ACT Party press release on 9 April, David Seymour has been informing the media that his End of Life Choice Bill would likely have its Second Reading on 22 May. This date has been reported over the last six weeks by RNZ, TVNZ 1 NEWS, Stuff and more.

So why did it not come about last night? Once again, David Seymour's assisted suicide Bill did not even make it out onto the floor of Parliament. But not for reasons you would expect.

Let’s face it, Seymour has had a bad week. On the one hand he’s been accused of being a bully by the Speaker, and on the other hand he is sponsoring a Bill involving the risk of vulnerable people being bullied and coerced into requesting death.

It seems he is losing confidence in having the numbers he needs to pass his Bill with support dwindling amongst fellow MPs.

The result of this however is that he worked hard to slow down proceedings last night in Parliament with frivolous speeches on unrelated matters – in what was seemingly an attempt to delay his End of Life Choice Bill from beginning its Second Reading.

#DefendNZ surmises that the spotlight of bullying accusations against Seymour in the media has diminished his credibility. With Seymour having campaigned on this Bill prior to the 2017 election and only getting 0.5% of the party vote, the lifeline of ACT is now hanging by a thread.

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