Luxon defends Potaka over photo with gang members
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has defended National MP Tama Potaka over a circulating photo of him with Mongrel Mob members, saying it would be "disingenuous" to equate it with images of Labour, Green and Te Pāti Māori MPs.
Luxon said he had not seen the photo himself but was aware it was circulating. He said Potaka, who is the Minister for Māori Development, was "not campaigning, he's not fundraising, he's not raising funds for the mongrel mob" in the picture.
National's Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, said the photo was taken three years ago at an event at the Kiingitanga, the Māori King Movement. Mitchell said Potaka was not campaigning and was not engaging gang members to get them organised to vote for the National Party. He speculated that Potaka posed for the photo to be "respectful and not create a scene."
The photo comes as Labour candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau Kerrin Leoni resigned after a video and an image of her campaigning in party attire and posing with Mongrel Mob members at a fundraising event were published online. Labour leader Chris Hipkins first backed Leoni, saying she had been at a family event with whānau who are gang members. He later said it had become untenable for her to stay as a candidate after the video circulated, because she had not provided the full story.
Kiri Tamihere-Waititi has criticised the cross-party rebuke of Te Pāti Māori and Green MPs who met and posed for photos with the Mongrel Mob. She has also called the backlash to the Mongrel Mob hui manufactured outrage.
