Hannah Tamaki's new party has denied accusations of racism levelled at its campaign manager by "left wing crackpots".
Vision New Zealand - a naming rebrand after first choice 'Coalition NZ' was rejected by the Electoral Commission - has been explicit about its intentions to reduce immigration should it manage to get over the 5 percent threshold at the 2020 election.
That stance has been echoed by campaign manager Jevan Goulter, who has made a series of Facebook posts expressing anti-Muslim sentiment.
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He said Vision NZ would put "Kiwi's" first, rather than "people fleeing from their own countries they have managed to destroy due to lack of values".
"None of these Middle East countries immigrant [sic] to NZ because it's worse than where they are, bout time they stayed home and fixed it."
The post was met with disgust from a number of commenters, who called it "fascist bullshit" and said it was irresponsible to publish just seven months after 51 Muslim worshippers were killed in Christchurch.
Tamaki defended Goulter's remarks on The AM Show on Wednesday, saying he's "not wrong".
Last week Goulter posted a photo of Jacinda Ardern and Helen Clark wearing Muslim headscarves with a lengthy caption in which he mocked them for their choice of headwear.
"The tea towels wrapped around you [sic] head look ridiculous.... how bout just settle for a nice pounamo [sic] (Green Stone) around your neck," he wrote.
He also called Ardern a "tea towel wearing fashion mistakment [sic]".
Both posts appeared on Goulter's personal account rather than the official Vision NZ page.
Goulter has issued a statement dismissing accusations of racism, saying issues such as New Zealand refugee quota (which was spelled incorrectly in the release's first sentence) should be given more attention "to challenge the fruit loops of the far left".
"A Facebook post that I made was labelled as being 'racist' by some left wing crackpot," he said, going on to say a harsh new immigration policy is needed.
"We talk about Kiwis First, because New Zealand First has let the country down. Due to the state of emergency our country is currently experiencing where many Kiwis are suffering, unless they bring significant value into our country, the door would be officially shut."
Goulter cited high levels of homelessness and poverty as pressing issues facing the country, and accused the Government of not doing enough to address them.
"Other countries are envious of our isolation in the middle of the ocean," he said, presumably meaning it's more difficult for immigrants to reach our borders.
"Meanwhile our Prime Minister has made herself the poster child for the United Nations Refugee Global Strategy when back home her Government has not worked out how to build houses for her own people.
"It is not the New Zealand tax payer's job to fund the Prime Minister's international self-promotion projects, as she gallavants [sic] along a seemingly ego driven politically fuelled agenda."
He said Vision NZ will soon be making an announcement about how it intends to improve "the Kiwi way of life as New Zealanders know it".
Newshub.
