Labour’s Northland candidate Willow-Jean Prime says she’s experiencing the worst racism this election of her two decades in politics.
She says after seven election campaigns at local and central government level, she’s used to racist heckling, but last week’s debate at Kerikeri’s Homestead Tavern was over the top.
A similar event in Paihia also featured a mostly-pakeha crowd who did not want to hear anything she had to say – and constantly jeered her about so-called Māori preferential treatment.
“I have given it my time and energy in respect for democracy, but what I am seeing in this election is very different to what I’ve experienced in the past and I do think it is unhinged, and it is disrespectful,” Ms Prime says.
She says many people now seem to feel free they can say the most racist things without fear of being held accountable.
