NZ First candidate Harete Hipango-Brownlie is facing backlash over comments she made about a man’s mataora during an altercation in Whanganui yesterday.
Hipango-Brownlie was campaigning with NZ First supporters outside Countdown in Whanganui when Joshua Vedder-Shute said he held his car horn down in protest.
After finishing his shopping, Joshua said he was approached by Hipango-Brownlie.
“She came over to us in an aggressive tone, saying she wanted to have a conversation and asking who we were,” he said in a Facebook post.
Joshua said he called her a sellout and continued walking away. However, he claims Hipango-Brownlie then pointed towards his face and asked, “Does that thing on your face have any meaning?”
Joshua described the comment as a personal attack on his mataora.
“My mataora is not a fashion statement, a costume or something to be mocked when someone doesn’t have a better argument. It carries deep meaning connected to my identity, whakapapa and responsibility.”
He acknowledged that he had also exchanged words with Hipango-Brownlie, but said there was a difference between challenging someone’s political views and making personal attacks on something as significant as their mataora.
‘I stood my ground’
Hipango-Brownlie responded in a Facebook post this morning, claiming Joshua and two other bystanders had verbally abused her and members of her team.
She said they called her derogatory names, including kūpapa, traitor and loyalist, in an attempt to hurt and intimidate her.
“I stood my ground emphasising at him with pointed finger at his mataora, that it means nothing when he abuses a person, and me as an older woman - a kuia,” she said.
“These kids think that branding themselves with moko/tattoos makes them more Māori than me. Then yelling names and abuse at me as stand over tactics. Never!”
Hipango-Brownlie said she would not be intimidated and that her team was back out campaigning this morning.
“Upbeat, positive and focused. Stay safe out there everyone.”
Joshua said the interaction was disappointing, particularly because Hipango-Brownlie was seeking to represent the Whanganui community.
“These are the people who want to represent our communities and lead our country, people who should demonstrate respect, understanding and integrity towards the very people they seek to represent,” he said.
“We may have different political beliefs and perspectives, but that should never diminish our responsibility to uphold and respect our own people.”
Joshua has called on Hipango-Brownlie to apologise.
Kei te tātāngia anō a Aotearoa Tuatahi
The incident follows further criticism of NZ First, after candidate Michael Laws faced backlash for making sexual comments about Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong and criticising women in her party.
RNZ reported that the comments were made on Laws’ online talk show, The Platform, on October 29.
Laws described Opportunity candidate Kayla Kingdon-Bebb as “rather severe-looking”, comparing her to “every officious primary school teacher, female that I’d ever come across in my life”.
He then made a sexual remark about what it might be like to date her.
“Must be hell dating people like that, just quietly. Can you imagine what it’s like post-sex? Did I say that out loud? Yes, I did.”
He then turned to Wong, accusing her of having the same “stern, disapproving” manner and an “I-know-better-than-you” attitude.
His comments followed Wong’s suggestion that the Opportunity Party could work with NZ First if it put aside rhetoric she considered divisive and dangerous.
Wong called for Laws to stand down, describing his language as awful and misogynistic.
NZ First leader Winston Peters agreed the comments were unacceptable and said Laws would receive a serious telling-off.
In a Facebook post, Laws said, “I have been reprimanded by my leader, and apologised directly to the person that was the subject of those comments. I’m not perfect.”
