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Act party leader\xa0David Seymour\xa0says there\u2019s \u201cno question\u201d there will be a reduction in the number of public servants under the coalition Government\u2019s watch.\xa0

Seymour spoke with Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB this morning following criticism of the government\u2019s proposed public sector cuts.\xa0

Ministries are on a mission to cut spending by 6.5 to 7.5 per cent before the Budget in May.\xa0

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has asked all departments to\xa0look for savings\xa0to \u201crestore discipline\u201d to taxpayer spending.\xa0

Correspondence from 11 ministries about their cost-cutting plans has been released to NZME under the Official Information Act.\xa0

One idea put forward at the Ministry of Transport was for staff to stay with friends rather than in hotels when travelling for work.\xa0

When asked specifically about that proposal by Hosking, Seymour said \u201cit\u2019s not a bad idea\u201d.\xa0

He said despite increases in spending, public services have not improved.\xa0

\u201cTen billion dollars, five million people... how did we get there is your question. The Reserve Bank and Adrian Orr and their infinite wisdom kept interest rates very low, and Grant Robertson turned the tap on.\u201d\xa0

\u201cThere\u2019s no question there will be a reduction on a number of people,\u201d Seymour said when asked of job losses.\xa0

The comments come during a week where Seymour has faced criticism for Government efforts to reign in public spending.\xa0

He\u2019s also found himself embroiled in a social media spat with the head of a publicly funded anti-extremism centre over cutbacks.\xa0

Professor Joanna Kidman, a director of the Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism, lashed out at the Government on Tuesday night.\xa0

Kidman wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that she could \u201conly assume that this Government hates children, most of whom will be poor and brown\u201d.\xa0

\u201cThere is so much evidence that military-style youth boot camps don\u2019t work and are expensive,\u201d she wrote.\xa0

Kidman also added that the Government \u201cwants to snatch children\u2019s lunches\u201d in response to Associate Education Minister and Act leader David Seymour\xa0describing free school lunches as \u201cwasteful\u201d\xa0public spending and arguing that the Government should cut them.\xa0

\u201cIs this a government or a death cult?\u201d Kidman wrote.\xa0

Seymour replied on X: \u201cSome interesting views from a Jacinda Ardern and Labour appointee\u201d.\xa0

Kidman has since made her X account private.\xa0

It is the second social media spat involving Seymour after earlier this week, he and Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Professor Lisa Te Morenga\xa0exchanged personal barbs over the Government\u2019s free school lunches programme.\xa0

Professor Joanna Kidman, director of the Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism, He Whenua Taurikura.\xa0

Speaking to the\xa0Herald,\xa0Seymour said it was \u201creally strange\u201d for Kidman\u2019s comments to come from an organisation funded to bring people together.\xa0

\u201cIf people want to have arguments about the merits of the school lunch programme or the Government\u2019s boot camps for prisoners, there\u2019s lots of arguments they can make if they\u2019d like to without getting into these kinds of personal attacks. Once you start doing that you\u2019re actually promoting division and extremism,\u201d he said.\xa0

He said he believed in freedom of speech and the Government \u201cshould never lock someone up for their opinion\u201d, but if someone entered a private contract, they took on obligations in terms of behaviour.\xa0

He said people who took government funding were allowed to criticise the Government.\xa0

Kidman has not responded to multiple requests for comment from the\xa0Herald.\xa0

Act Party leader David Seymour speaking at Waitangi. Photo / Michael Cunningham\xa0

-Jaime Lyth, Raphael Franks, and Benjamin Plummer

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