Council candidate hides behind closed door when asked about conspiracy group Voices for Freedom
Tuesday, 16 August 2022
Another council candidate who has expressed anti-vaccination/mandate views and appears to be pro Brian Tamaki and the Freedom Rights Coalition group he fronts, is standing in Canterbury.
Five Christchurch City Council candidates are receiving help from anti-vaccination, anti-mandate group Voices For Freedom (VFF) and in a newsletter the group confirmed there was another woman standing in the neighbouring district of Selwyn.
A source said the candidate who will stand in Ellesmere was Elizabeth Mundt – who initially hung up on Stuff when called. She subsequently refused to speak at her home in Greenpark except to say she was not a member of VFF.
However, a source said candidates standing for VFF have been told to deny they are members to the media and to claim they are independents.
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An email sent from VFF on August 8 supports the statement – telling candidates 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.
On the Freedom for Rights Coalition Canterbury Facebook page Mundt has expressed many anti-vaccination and anti-mandate sentiments, including an entirely fictitious figure of the number of Kiwis who had died due to the vaccine.
At the time of Mundt’s November 2021 post, only one person was thought “likely” to have died due to vaccine induced myocarditis, according to Medsafe.
A month later she wrote that her husband faced “the chop” from his job because of vaccine mandates and that her sister and her hairdresser were unemployed because they feared a second vaccination “would kill them”.
She has also expressed support for Brian Tamaki.
Some posts have since been removed.
Mundt is part of a private Telegram social media page called Freeing Christchurch, where large groups of users can discuss topics they do not want to make public.
She follows social media pages for disinformation spreaders Chantelle Baker, Liz Gunn and Counterspin Media and explained her interest by saying she was “open-minded”.
Former TVNZ presenter Gunn has made bizarre statements since the Covid-19 pandemic began, including saying an earthquake in the North Island was mother nature’s response to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement about new vaccination targets, passports and the traffic light system.
Mundt refused to comment when Stuff visited her home on Tuesday, but promised to talk on Wednesday.
On Monday, Linwood candidate Sally Cogle confirmed she and four friends were receiving help from VFF to run for the Christchurch City Council.
The list includes Colleen Farrelly in Cashmere, Mike Wilson in Burwood, Rob Gray in Heathcote, and Don Cross in Coastal.
Cogle has a colourful social media history under various guises and has previously called Covid-19 a giant scam. She also questioned if Hitler had been killed.
Many conspiracies believe the fascist leader escaped Berlin in the last days of war, but it has been proven he died by suicide.
Cogle and Jonathon “Jonny” Drumm are shareholders in controversial signage company Jolly Billboards Ltd.
The company put up Voices For Freedom billboards – many of which have been pulled after complaints to the advertising authority.
In a Twitter post, Cogle supported VFFs billboards and said “it was time to tell the truth”.
She also said her company was “proud to facilitate freedom of speech”.
Since council and community board nominations have closed, Fight Against Conspiracy Theories Aotearoa spokesperson Stephen Judd said about 110 candidates with unconfirmed anti-vaccination and conspirational views had been uncovered nationwide.
He called VFF’s efforts to keep the organisation’s name away from the candidates ironic and hypocritical.