More incidents involving Green MP Julie Anne Genter claimed

Saturday, 4 May 2024

A Wellington councillor has described two “completely inappropriate” encounters with Julie Anne Genter in her former capacity as associate transport minister, including one where he says she tried to exert political pressure on him.

Simon Woolf, formerly a Wellington city councillor, now with the Greater Wellington Regional Council, said he’s speaking publicly about the incidents which occurred in a short timeframe in 2019 after extraordinary scenes emerged this week of the Green MP striding across the House during a transport debate to shout at National’s Matt Doocey.

Several complaints were made to Speaker Gerry Brownlee about Genter’s behaviour, and across the political divide her actions were deemed inappropriate and intimidatory. Within the Green Party a disciplinary process is under way.

On Friday, a Wellington florist told The Post Genter had “bullied” her when the pair had a disagreement in the Newtown shop about cycleways being built in the area. Laura Newcombe of Four Seasons Florist said during the heated discussion Genter pulled out her phone and focused it on her face, which Newcombe said she found intimidating.

The Green Party said it accepted Newcombe’s version of events. Genter was not in Parliament on Thursday and was said to be working from home. She did not respond to requests for comment.

“I think she’s gone too far,” Woolf told The Post. “If you don’t put a stop to it, it [won’t] be the last … Respect, and the way that Parliament and parliamentarians treat each other, is really important. If an MP handles themselves the way she did the other night, it isn’t OK.”

Woolf alleged an incident in 2019 where he was photographing an event, in a personal business capacity, outside Parliament. Genter was attending as associate transport minister. Just a few months earlier Lets Get Wellington Moving had been launched, sparking heated debate about cycleways and mass rapid transit.

Woolf said Genter “came right up to my face and complained bitterly about the slow progress with the city council and the cycleway implementation. I had to tell her three times that I wasn’t there as a councillor, I had two cameras around my neck, and that I was there as a photographer.

“There was a sense, if I can put it in context, I felt that she was coming from a heavy-handed perspective where she could influence me.”

He further clarified: “She was looking for me to support the speed up of Thorndon Quay and Golden Mile. She knew I had reservations over those two areas [and] she was trying to get more involved in the council decision making as well, which she could have done in another way. It was completely inappropriate.”

Woolf said he instructed Genter to take up her concerns through proper channels, including with his colleague, fellow councillor Sarah Free, who was handling cycleway implementation. He said he gave Free a heads up that she could expect a call. Free said she didn’t remember the discussion.

Not long afterwards, at the Women of Influence Awards in October 2019, which Woolf was attending to support his mother, he said Genter again got “right in my face”, this time with a number of high profile officials and individuals watching, “and started shaking her finger at me in a very animated way”. He said he took Genter to the side, where she “berated me for five minutes” about comments he had made to media.

At that time councillors, including Woolf, reported that Genter had threatened to resign if the Greens’ transport demands weren’t met. That was denied by Genter.

“Again, I said to her, this is not the right place or the right time, this is an awards ceremony. I said, our ideology will probably always be a little bit different, but in respect of today, we need to agree to disagree, and I left the conversation. Woolf said he walked away. “It was completely inappropriate, unexpected and unprofessional.”

He added: “Julie Anne is really passionate, and she loses control sometimes. It’s not that she doesn’t have a good heart for what she’s doing, it’s just that she needs to temper how she deals with people …There’s a bit of entitlement involved as well, because of her position, and that Julie Anne regards herself as an expert in certain areas, and particularly transport.

“But this situation, both in Parliament, and with the florist, is completely unprofessional and inappropriate and needs to be resolved … she should certainly take some time off.”

Greens coleaders Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson earlier in the week called Genter’s behaviour in the House unacceptable.

Sent details of Woolf’s claims, a spokesperson responded: “The co-leaders had no prior knowledge of the allegations regarding Julie Anne Genter that have recently come to light.

“They had already taken disciplinary action after Wednesday’s incident in Parliament, which was clearly unacceptable and fell short of the high standards the Green Party expects of its MPs. As part of the disciplinary action Julie Anne will be receiving professional and personal support to ensure incidents of this nature never happen again.”

The party has dealt with a string of embarrassments since the beginning of the year. Golriz Ghahraman was charged with, and subsequently pleaded guilty to, shoplifting, after she stole clothing from high end Auckland stores. And in March Darleen Tana was suspended and an independent investigation launched by the Greens, after a complaint of migrant exploitation was made against a business owned by Tana’s husband, with the suggestion that Tana had prior knowledge of the complaint. That investigation is still ongoing.

Last year Elizabeth Kerekere resigned from the party after the Greens investigated claims of bullying against her, including an alleged text sent to the entire caucus which called Swarbrick a “crybaby”.