ComCom not on board with associate commissioner's Nazi-referencing anti-vax post

Tuesday, 2 November 2021

The Commerce Commission says John Crawford’s comments were made in a “personal capacity”.

The Commerce Commission has disassociated itself from an anti-vax social media post by associate commissioner John Crawford that compared prominent public health experts to Nazi torturer Josef Mengele.

A spokeswoman for the commission confirmed Crawford had published a post on LinkedIn that incorrectly claimed people under 50 without co-morbidity factors were more at risk from the Covid-19 vaccine than the virus.

The post said it was unethical and immoral to “force the vaccine onto children” and people who were not at risk of Covid “so they can keep their job”.

It went on to state that “Wiles, Baker, Hendry and Jackson”, referring to four of New Zealand’s top public health experts, were “the Dr Mengeles of our generation”.

* Covid-19: 126 new cases in Delta outbreak in Auckland, Waikato, Northland

The social media post was subsequently edited to remove the reference to Mengele, which Crawford acknowledged was “over the top”.

The commission posted a response on LinkedIn stating that Crawford’s post was a “personal statement and these are not views shared by the commission”.

The Whole Truth Covid-19 Vaccination: How does an mRNA vaccine work? (Video first published October 2021)

The commission had been aware of the earlier reference to Mengele, its spokeswoman confirmed.

Crawford, who is a former deputy secretary of the Treasury, described himself as an associate commissioner at the Commerce Commission in his original post.

But the reference to his work at the commission was later removed, to instead describe him as an “independent business consultant”.

Stuff has sought to contact Crawford, via the Commerce Commission.

Philippa Yasbek, an independent consultant in Wellington, said that as the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor, she had been shocked by Crawford’s comments.

“I know John and have worked with him in the past.

“It is quite upsetting to see something that appropriates the history of the Holocaust and the trauma and suffering of the 6 million people who died to make what is really a rather shabby point about whether or not you agree with the scientific consensus.”

Yasbek said that in her view Crawford’s post also showed a tremendous lack of judgment.

“The Commerce Commission has a quasi-judicial function and the lack of understanding of probability alone is horrifying – and the denigration of expert advice when the Commerce Commission often has to weigh up competing expertise and make decisions that aren’t only in their areas of expertise.”

Crawford was appointed an associate commissioner of the Commerce Commission in 2018 by Kris Faafoi, the commerce minister at the time. Faafoi had described Crawford as having “substantial commercial and regulatory experience in key sectors such as electricity, energy and telecommunications”.