Nash says Groundswell stands for 'racist, anti-vax' sentiment

Thursday, 18 November 2021

Hon Stuart Nash said he was not sure what Groundswell stood for after looking at the group’s website. (File photo)

Groundswell NZ leaders have reacted with anger after Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash said the group’s website included anti-vaccine messaging and racism.

Nash was standing in for Minister of Rural Communities Damien O’Connor in Parliament on Thursday when ACT rural spokesperson Mark Cameron asked whether O’Connor had met with Groundswell NZ leaders during question time.

Nash said: ‘’I’m not sure what Groundswell stands for these days. They’re a member of … it's a mixture of … well that’s based on what I’ve read on their website, and it’s a mixture of racism, anti-vax etcetera, etcetera,’’ he said.

Nash went on to say the Government would continue to meet with farming leaders and engage with rural communities as and when appropriate.

Cameron then asked whether O’Connor would be advocating for Government ministers to meet with Groundswell representatives to hear their concerns about Government policies.

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Bryce McKenzie, left, and Laurie Paterson are the men behind the Groundswell NZ organisation

Nash replied: “My advice to that member would be when he’s at a Groundswell rally, make sure he doesn’t get a photo taken beside someone holding up an anti-vax sign.’’

Cameron called for a Point of Order, and repeated his question about advocating for Government ministers to meet the representatives of Groundswell.

Deputy speaker Adrian Rurawhe said his understanding of what the Minister said was ‘’quite category and emphatic’’.

“Pretty sure he meant no,” Rurawhe said.

Cameron said Nash was talking about anti-vaxxers and not about Groundswell members.

Rurawhe asked Cameron ‘’have you finished?’’ before moving on to the next question.

Groundswell leader Bryce McKenzie said the allegations were ‘’totally untrue”.

”How could the man say that? We’re definitely not anti-vax, we’ve never said anything about vaccination and in fact Laurie [Paterson] and I are both vaccinated.

”We’ve also just accepted the resignation of a man who made a racial slur because it didn’t fit with our group. He resigned from Groundswell before he resigned from the board at Tatua.’’

McKenzie was referring to Tatua Dairy board of directors member Ross Townshend, who posted images online of Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta as a gang member, accompanied by racist slurs questioning her ability to represent the country internationally, earlier this week.

McKenzie said the group monitors its social media accounts and clears all racist or anti-vax messaging when it can.

“We’re all volunteers, and we still have farms to run, so we can’t be looking at it all the time. There is messaging pinned at the top telling people that those kinds of posts won’t be tolerated. We do block people for it.’’

In a press release on Thursday afternoon, Cameron said Nash ‘’showed complete and utter contempt for rural New Zealand today”, and he called on Nash to apologise.

“Groundswell represents tens of thousands of everyday Kiwis concerned about the avalanche of red tape being imposed on farmers. Never has a politician looked down on the people paying the bills like this, stereotyping farmers the way Labour judges others for doing.’’

O’Connor and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern have previously declined to meet with Groundswell leaders on two separate occasions.

Groundswell NZ was founded by West Otago farmers McKenzie and Laurie Paterson in 2020 after they organised a tractor protest in Gore against the Government’s freshwater regulations, which they said were impractical to implement on farms.

On Sunday it will hold The Mother Of All Protests in 70 towns and cities across the country.