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Judith Collins has apologized to spokesperson Trevor Mallard for a “misleading” post on National’s Facebook page criticizing the government’s response to Covid-19.
He posts on the New Zealand National Party Facebook page that it has since been removed. Source: Facebook
Last Tuesday a post appeared in the National Party of New Zealand Facebook page purporting to show correspondence between Health Minister Chris Hipkins and National’s health spokesperson, Dr. Shane Reti.
The image contains a letterhead stating that the message is from Mr. Hipkins. However, today in Parliament, Mr Mallard stated that the image had been tampered with.
“Members, I have received a letter from the Hon Chris Hipkins asking me a question of privilege: the alteration and misrepresentation of an answer to a written question published by the National Party on social networks,” he began by addressing the matter.
“Content – altered response purporting to be from the Minister of Health and apparently misleading. Under normal circumstances, I would be inclined to find that it is a matter of privilege and refer the matter to the Privilege Committee.
“The message claims to be authorized by the opposition leader, although she has assured me that she did not see it before its publication.
Judith Collins. Source: Getty
“The Director General of the New Zealand National Party has taken responsibility.
“The message involved the fabrication of false ministerial letterheads to give the misrepresentation authenticity.
“However, the leader of the opposition has apologized, they have assured me that the material has been removed from social networks and, given the imminent dissolution of Parliament, I do not intend to take any other measures,” he concluded.
