Racist comments about Auckland councillor were not posted on Mt Albert tree protest Facebook group

Monday, 2 December 2019

Maungakiekie-Tamaki ward councillor Josephine Bartley has been the target of online racial abuse.

Protest group Honour the Maunga has hit back at claims by Auckland councillor Josephine Bartley that its members made racist and abusive comments about her on its Facebook page.

Honour the Maunga is protesting plans by the Tūpuna Maunga Authority (TMA), which co-governs Ōwairaka/Mt Albert with Auckland Council, to cut down 345 non-native trees on the volcano and replace them with around 13,000 native trees. It is part of its plan to restore native vegetation on the maunga. Bartley is a member of the authority.

Anna Radford from Honour the Maunga explains why protestors are blocking the removal of trees from Mt Albert/Ōwairaka. (Video first published November 2019.)

The Maungakiekie-Tāmaki councillor reposted the offensive comments, along with her own statement about them, on her own Facebook page last week in a bid to name and shame those responsible. The comments included derogatory, racist and abusive comments about herself and Māori and Pacific Islanders.

But Bartley has since removed her post and clarified the comments were posted on the Facebook page of a member of the Honour the Maunga group, and not on the organisation's page.

The Tūpuna Maunga Authority held a peaceful hui at Mt Albert / Ōwairaka to hear the woes of the protestors who are concerned about trees being cut down on the mountain. (Video first published in November 2019.)

* Code of conduct complaint against Auckland councillor Josephine Bartley thrown out

* Council investigates councillor's comments in Māngere Mountain tree removal row

* Mt Albert tree removal: Protesters labelled 'woke, entitled Pākehā' at hui

* Saving Ōwairaka/Mt Albert's trees: becoming an activist at almost 100 years old**

'Why did she misrepresent this as an Honour the Maunga posting?' Honour the Maunga spokesperson Anna Radford asked.

'We've done nothing wrong in all of this. It would have been helpful if Josephine Bartley had just come to us with her concerns.'

Radford said the person whose Facebook page included the offensive comments was part of its chat group, but wasn't part of the group's roster for those occupying the mountain.

'Now that we've become aware of what has happened he will be deleted immediately.'

Councillor Josephine Bartley said she found the offensive comments after following a link from the Honour the Maunga group's Facebook page.

She said it was only when she went back to verify the source at the weekend that she realised they were made on the personal page of a group member.

Bartley admitted she was wrong to blame the group for the comments.

She now plans to forward some of the offensive material to police to investigate.

'It doesn't matter where it was, it was still racist abuse and that's the issue.'

Auckland Deputy Mayor Bill Cashmore released an official council statement on Friday afternoon to state his anger at the racist attacks on Bartley.

Radford said at the time that she couldn't confirm whether or not the comments were from members of the group, but earlier this week it made its Facebook page private in a bid to stop offensive remarks being posted on it.

Bartley was the subject of a recent code of conduct complaint that was dismissed by Auckland Council chief executive Steven Town last week.

The complaint followed Bartley's alleged outburst in response to a member of the public's presentation about tree removal from Māngere Mountain and other Auckland maunga. And some of the hate-filled comments appear to be related to the incident.