Takapuna man charged with threatening to kill National MP Dan Bidois

A 29-year-old Takapuna man appeared in court on Tuesday charged with threatening to kill National MP Dan Bidois.

According to RNZ, the accused is alleged to have sent a threatening message to Bidois, the MP for Northcote, via social media. The threat itself is reported to have occurred in November 2025.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Williams said the police investigation into the threat began in December. The charge of threatening to kill carries a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment on conviction.

The case adds to a pattern of recent threat-related charges involving Members of Parliament. Earlier this month, police arrested and charged a 19-year-old Gisborne man in relation to a series of death threats made against a Member of Parliament. That man faced charges of causing harm by posting a digital communication and threatening to kill, having been arrested on Wednesday 8 October (New Zealand Police).

Threats against National MPs in particular have produced criminal proceedings before. In May 2021, a man was arrested in relation to threats directed at Simeon Brown, the MP for Pakuranga (New Zealand Police). A 36-year-old man later pleaded guilty to threatening to kill members of the public and police following a five-hour standoff connected to that matter. None of those earlier cases have any established link to the Bidois charge.

What sets the Bidois matter apart from the 2025 Gisborne arrest is the gap between the alleged offending and the court appearance. The threat is said to have been made in November 2025; the investigation began the following month; and the accused appeared in court on 11 August 2026, roughly nine months after the alleged offence. Police have not publicly explained the timeline. Whether that interval reflects the complexity of the digital-forensic work involved in tracing a social media message, delays in the court system, or other investigative factors is not clear from the available reporting.

For MPs and their staff, the operational reality is that threat assessments, security reviews and, in some cases, temporary changes to constituency office arrangements follow whenever a credible threat is identified. The parliamentary system provides security advice through Parliamentary Service and, where charges are laid, through Police. MPs themselves rarely comment publicly on individual threat cases while they are before the court, and Bidois has not publicly discussed the matter.

The broader context here is one that the Press Gallery has tracked with increasing attention. Threats against MPs are not new in New Zealand politics, but the frequency of charge-laying, and the use of digital-communications offences alongside threatening-to-kill charges, points to a shift in how offending against parliamentarians is both perpetrated and prosecuted. The 2025 Gisborne case involved the same combination of charges. Whether the Bidois matter will follow the same charging pattern beyond the single threatening-to-kill count is not yet apparent from the court documents reported.

The maximum sentence of seven years for threatening to kill is the same regardless of the target. But sentencing outcomes in cases involving MPs have historically attracted public and media interest, and judges have, in past sentencings, weighed the public-office dimension of the threat. Whether that factor will be argued in this case will depend on the Crown's approach at sentencing, assuming a conviction.

The accused's next court appearance has not been reported. The matter remains before the court and the accused is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.