Accusations a Young Nat has been trolling female politicians online has prompted an investigation by the National Party, with the abuse denounced as cowardice on all sides.
National's Deputy Leader Nicola Willis says the party has expectations of its members' conduct, Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
A false social media account with a fake photo and name which regularly sent sexist, abusive messages to left-leaning women politicians in Christchurch was recently traced to a house owned by Young Nats member Bryce Beattie.
RNZ understands Beattie's flatmate, Jessee Mackenzie - also believed to be a member of the Young Nats - has taken responsibility, and both have resigned their National Party membership.
National has launched an investigation into the allegations.
Beattie, who was planning to run for a local community board in October's election, withdrew his candidacy after the news. He denied having any prior knowledge of the attacks.
Labour MP for Wigram Megan Woods was one of those targeted, and this afternoon said while such behaviour was common online it should not be normalised.
"This was constant, it was targeted and it was toxic ... the normal kind of stuff unfortunately that women in public office get used to - comments about personal appearance, comments about being a woman - basically, misogyny that was practised online. They were not targeting male politicians, this was clearly targeted at women political figures in Christchurch."
Labour MP for Wigram Megan Woods says this kind of abuse is something she has become used to as a daily occurrence. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
"It happens every day, but we cannot normalise this. This is precisely the kind of behaviour that stops young women putting themselves forward, and other women putting themselves forward, to come into politics. It is not okay and it is not acceptable."
She said the account was operating between December 2020 and July 2021, and was linked to the house after Christchurch City Councillor Sara Templeton, who was also targeted, made use of the tools available through the Harmful Digital Communications Act.
'A pattern of behaviour which had been going on for a while'
Christchurch City councillor Sara Templeton revealed last year she had been the subject of intense online harassment from a handful of Facebook accounts.
"[It happened] over a period of three weeks. At first, I received several normal, sort of, trolling comments on my page about other elected members, and about myself," she said.
At first, it didn't raise eyebrows.
"But it got worse and then they started making personal comments and asking what menstrual products I used, whether they were eco-friendly, those kind of things. At that point, I blocked them and that was probably only a week, a week and a half in.
"They then started a targeted, online harassment campaign on their own and other people's pages, including fellow councillors.They started doing things like messaging people I knew from my community groups or from the community board and saying lies about me. [They said] I was going to roll the community board chair and take her seat."
Templeton found out the accounts had been targeting mostly left-wing, female politicians in the city and had been blocked by others.
"They had a pattern of behaviour which had been going on for a while."
The accounts were deactivated almost immediately when Templeton went public with the harassment.
Even still, she decided to go to the District Court to find out who was really behind the accounts.
National condemns conduct
Deputy leader Nicola Willis had no sympathy for the offender.
"Here's a clue, if you have to make up an identity and hide your name and face before you make a comment on social media, don't do it," she said.
"If you're not prepared to put your name to it then you're just being a coward and you shouldn't be doing it at all."
She said the party needed to look into the facts of the matter, but the party took it very seriously and had a code of conduct members needed to abide by.
"So long as they are a member of the National Party we have expectations of their conduct because they should not bring our party into disrepute. I was on the phone this morning to the president of the Young Nats, she utterly condemns this action as do other Young Nats.
"This behaviour of this one individual has made every Young Nat look bad and that's not fair because actually the Young Nats are interested in the National Party because of policy issues - not because of personal attacks."
She said it was unacceptable behaviour.
That was a position backed by National Party President Peter Goodfellow and Young Nationals President Stephanie-Anne Ross.
"No one should be subject to harassment and bullying, either in person or online," they said in a joint statement.
"We will be looking into this matter under our new Code of Conduct. This type of behaviour is not acceptable, and it is important for all parties concerned to see that it is stopped immediately."
Woods said attacks like this were experienced by women politicians from across the political spectrum. Whether the National Party had a culture problem was a question for them to answer, she said, and the party had little option but to launch its investigation.
Labour would have "zero tolerance" of such behaviour in its own ranks, she said.
"What I've seen is some people who are aligned with the Labour Party who aren't being cowards and hiding behind online pseudonyms, they are entering into political discourse and debate - which is quite a different thing."
Beattie withdraws from local body elections
On Facebook, Beattie said he was withdrawing from the local body elections because he did not want the accusations to distract from genuine debate for policy, or damage voter turnout.
In a statement on his campaign social media page, Beattie said: "This afternoon I've reflected over the past 24 hours and have decided I will not contest the local body elections this October. The last thing I want is for this to become a distraction [from] the election."
He said the first he'd heard of the accounts was yesterday when he was approached by media.
"I have had numerous different flatmates over the past 12 months, so as the homeowner I accept that this activity must have occurred from my property, however I reject entirely that I played any part in it or had any knowledge of it. I have also not been contacted by NetSafe or any other agency in regard to this matter... I am currently in the process of contacting NetSafe to try and uncover any information about this directly."
Beattie admitted he hasn't always seen eye to eye with Templeton, but was adamant he wouldn't bully her like this.
"While I have not always agreed with Councillor Sara Templeton's politics and ideology, I believe the best way to have a contest of ideas is by doing exactly what I am doing which is to put your hand up to represent your community at the October local body elections. I strongly believe that showing what I can offer as a local representative will always prove more constructive than directing abusive online comments towards those who you disagree with."
This afternoon, Beattie confirmed his flat mate, Jessee Mackenzie, had called him to say he was behind it.
Mackenzie was also a National Party member who resigned today.