Five candidates with links to anti-vaccination group standing for city council

Monday, 15 August 2022

At least five Christchurch City Council candidates are receiving help from an anti-vaccination, anti-mandate group – including a woman who once said Covid was a “giant scam”.

A Voices for Freedom (VFF) Christchurch newsletter on July 26 confirmed five “voices” were standing in Heathcote, Coastal, Burwood, Linwood and Cashmere and one was standing for the Selwyn District Council.

The nominations emerged as a newly-published Stuff Circuit investigation revealed VFF had called on its 100,000 members to make Aotearoa “ungovernable”.

In Christchurch, Stuff has learnt that Linwood candidate Sally Cogle is one of five VFF candidates for the city council.

Cogle confirmed her “friends” running for council included Colleen Farrelly standing in Cashmere,Mike Wilson in Burwood, Rob Gray in Heathcote, and Don Cross in Coastal.She said they were all receiving help from VFF to run for council.

However, Cogle said VFF had nothing to do with her standing, and she was not a member despite the group calling all of them “members”, but admitted she had links to the organisation.

In an email sent from VFF on August 8, candidates were told to stand as independents.

“Don’t put ‘Voices for Freedom’ or ‘VFF’ as the affiliation or group represented when filling out the candidate paperwork (the nomination form),” the email said.

“Any candidate from our community will be in a good position to gain support from their local VFF community.”

Cogle admitted writing posts on an alternative Facebook page, Notsally Notcogle, in 2021 saying Covid-19 was a “giant scam”. When asked about her views she said she believed Covid was “a version of the flu”.

Although Cogle said she is pro-choice and “not anti-anything”, Facebook posts suggest otherwise.

In a post on February 22, 2021, Cogle called the vaccine “poison”.

“If you willingly put this poison in your body, that’s on you. You will need to take self responsibility for making a dumb decision.” [sic]

In another post, she said Hitler was not killed.

Some conspiracy theorists do not believe the accepted fact that Hitler committed suicide, and think he escaped from Berlin with his wife. Others think he went to South America.

When asked about it, Cogle said she could not remember writing it, but would have written it as a point of discussion. The page has subsequently been taken down.

On Cogle’s and the other fourcandidates’ web pages, there was no mention of their links to VFF.

Cogle said that was not a deliberate oversight and she was happy to acknowledge VFF on her website. “I’m not ashamed of it.”

She said she had decided to stand for council to help those who could not afford to live and to question where rates money was being spent.

Cogle emphasised all five candidates were running as independents.

In a leaked email seen by Stuff, Rob Gray, who is standing in Heathcote, said “we all have to be discreet” – in reference to those affiliated to VFF. On his web page he states that he is truthful, integral and honest.

In another leaked email, Gray said Cogle helped him set up his website.

Cogle said she forwarded on the template to the four other candidates, which was why they looked similar.

Gray declined to comment, but said he would release a press statement “as soon as he was able to”.

On his web page, Burwood candidate and former police officer Mike Wilson said he has questions about the science for and against wearing masks, vaccines and mandates, as well as questions on colonisation.

He is standing under the banner “truth, transparency and integrity”.

The Christchurch VFF newsletter also confirmed a female “Voices member” was standing for the Selwyn District Council.

Fighting Against Conspiracy Theories Aotearoa (FACT) spokesperson Stephen Judd said VFF’s behaviour was ironic and hypocritical.

“A core part of VFF’s message is that shadowy forces are working in the background to influence affairs, hiding themselves and concealing their real intent – conspiracy. And yet that is exactly what they are doing themselves.”

Judd said those aligned with the VFF were casting doubt on genuine independents.

Dr Mona Krewel, a Victoria University political scientist, said VFF’s move into local body politics was “a worrisome development” with the movement likely to hold ambitions beyond local council.

She urged voters to research candidates on the internet before giving them their vote. “You should never vote for anyone whose programme you don’t know.”

Neither VFF, nor the three other candidates, responded to interview requests.