Former mayor vs would-be mayor in alleged online bullying stoush

Friday, 18 April 2025

Wellington mayoral candidate Graham Bloxham with screen shots of some of the messages posted or emailed about former mayor Justin Lester, reportedly from his accounts.

Former Wellington mayor Justin Lester is taking legal action against would-be mayor Graham Bloxham, who he accuses of online bullying.

Lester approached Netsafe to get it to ask Bloxham, who runs popular Facebook page Wellington Live, to cease from allegedly “trolling”, defaming and making public comments about him. Lester said he would take legal action if he did not get an apology.

Lester was contacted by Netsafe, saying that Bloxham was “not willing to engage”. Lester told The Post he would be filing Harmful Digital Communications Act proceedings in the Wellington District Court “in coming days”.

Bloxham, who claimed to have now sold the company behind Wellington Live, announced his run for the Wellington mayoralty in late January. This led to revelations he had been issued at least two court orders to pay his workers.

One of those workers, Josh Cross, came forward saying Wellington had a right to know about Bloxham’s business dealings before the local body elections in October.

Lester came forward for the same reason.

“I believe Graham Bloxham is wholly unsuitable for public office and I want to ensure Wellingtonians are aware of this,” Lester said.

Former Wellington mayor Justin Lester has taken the first step towards legal action against mayoral contender Graham Bloxham.

Lester supplied The Post with screen grabs of recent communications, reportedly from Bloxham’s email address. This includes a late-March email to Lester’s work, calling the former mayor a “molester” and a “creepy thief”. It is understood the thief allegation relates to Lester’s Wellington Alive Facebook page having a similar name to Bloxham’s page.

A separate January Facebook post, under the name mr_bloxham, saw Lester called an “extremely unpopular man”, a “tedious liar” and a “troubled individual”. Yet another post, under another moniker – Graham ”bloxi“ Bloxham ONE NETWORK WELLINGTON LIVE – asked whether it was true Lester was being sued by ANZ for misrepresenting data. Lester denies those claims.

Lester alleged Bloxham had, over several months, emailed “colleagues, business associates, former employers and his entire email network, attempting to undermine and denigrate”.“I blocked him from all platforms long ago,” Lester said.

“The Harmful Digital Communications Act exists to stop this behaviour,” he said. Those found guilty of causing harm by posting digital communication can be fined up to $50,000 or jailed for up to two years.

“Graham Bloxham has for several years sought to bully or intimidate a range of people, who he wrongfully believes have slighted him,” Lester said.

Graham Bloxham holds a branch in a recent photo shoot for The Post.

“I’m not about to be bullied or intimidated by anyone, let alone Graham, so I'm putting a stop to it.”

The Post has separately obtained a March 22 email Bloxham reportedly sent to an organisation Lester was working with, alleging the former mayor was corrupt and the company should stop working with him.

“I will personally go after ‘LESTER and [the company]’ collectively, within pur network, reach through audiences, and as i ramp up i will create dynamic pages and spend audiences, including continual messaging all your staff and all your customers… ongoingly by association with this ruthlesz character [sic]”

Bloxham was asked to supply evidence of his allegations about Lester and whether he would apologise.

He emailed that he was “in the final stages of an exit period which I am unable to comment on this particular issue”.

“However, I can share I have written to [Lester] signalling that he changed his personal Facebook from Justin Lester to Wellington Alive, effectively confusing people, a clear theft, and in the following weeks his people flooded the Wellington Live communities to troll and try to steal followers,” he said, in the email.