Auckland mayor Phil Goff says the Christchurch mosque shooting vindicates his decision to bar Islamaphobic Canadian speakers from Auckland Council venues.
Last year's ban brought howls from so called free speech advocates, and Mr Goff says his Facebook page drew vile abuse.
But such speech has consequences.
"And some people couldn't see the wood for the trees on that, they said 'You've got to have freedom of speech.' They had freedom of speech. They put their nonsense out across the network. Do we have to make things easier for them to come here? Do we have to be seen to encourage and defend them? No we don't. What they stand for is not what we as New Zealanders stand for," Mr Goff says.
He says New Zealanders should reject all bigoted and racist views.
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