Judith Collins says her husband David Wong-Tung makes his own decisions on social media

National leader Judith Collins is philosophical about her husband receiving racist abuse after controversial social media posts.

Collins spoke to the media after David Wong-Tung shared memes on Facebook from a page called the National Party Meme Task Force, including one comparing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to Marvel’s character The Incredible Hulk.

He faced an avalanche of criticism on social media and was attacked online with racist comments himself.

When asked about the attacks on her husband online, Collins said: “These things happen.”

She reiterated that she did not post the memes herself.

The meme, which shows Ardern dyed green and labeled “The Incredible Sulk,” is captioned:
“Don’t make me angry. You won’t like me when I’m angry.”

The green school and growing crystals

Collins said this morning that the level of anger from other schools over the government’s $ 11.7 million infrastructure spending on the private New Plymouth Green School was evident during his visit to the city yesterday.

He said that if there is no contract with the school, the funding should be reversed.

When asked about the school’s curriculum, he said that there is “possibly not a great deal of support for growing crystals and planting them,” referring to a “sacred ceremony” led by a school parent that included planting crystals with school students.

Collins said the government should publish the business case, including any Treasury analysis, which led to the approval of the funding.

He also said that the government was trying to catch up on border worker testing, and ports should also be taken seriously given how contagious Covid-19 is.

Collins said he was on the South Island last week and that people in Invercargill were “very grumpy” about still being at alert level 2.

Collins said he did not have the same information the government had, so he was not saying he wanted the South Island to be at alert level 1.

She said she was concerned about the lack of productivity and that she had not made a decision about moving the minimum amount of legal leave to 10 days.

He said care had to be taken when exploring the possibility of deporting Brenton Tarrant to Australia because he had to spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole, and different states in Australia had different rules.

Collins said yesterday that she would not have shared what her husband had online.

“We have been together for 41 years. I have never been able to get him to do anything I tell him to do,” he said.

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“I just told him, ‘Well, it’s not something he would do.’ But he’s an adult and makes his own decisions.”

But some social media users have taken a different stance, calling Wong-Tung’s actions misogynistic.

Neale Jones, a former senior adviser to the Labor Party, posted on Twitter that he “could hardly believe” Wong-Tung was sharing the memes, and former National Party press secretary Ben Thomas said Wong-Tung should delete his account. and apologize.

Yesterday, the National Party launched its school infrastructure plan, promising to spend an additional $ 4.8 billion on school buildings over the next 10 years.

He also pointed to a more flexible approach to school zoning and would allow schools to grow to accommodate demand.

And it proposes an “alliance” with national infrastructure and construction companies to build new schools and improvements cheaper than with the current bidding system for each project.

Collins spent yesterday announcing the policy at New Plymouth Boys’ School, after a storm of outrage from Taranaki schools against the Green School grant.