Newshub political editor Tova O'Brien has called out Advance NZ co-leader Jami-Lee Ross for "whipping up fear and hysteria" during its election campaign.
The party has repeatedly made false claims since it was formed by Ross' co-leader Billy Te Kahika Jr, including that the Government forced through a law that made vaccination mandatory. Te Kahika himself also claimed 5G could cause cancer, something he later denied saying.
On Thursday, two days before the election, Facebook removed Advance NZ's page for "repeated" violations of its misinformation policy.
"This is a cynical example of election interference by an American owned social media outlet that has no business performing any such operation in our sovereign nation," Te Kahika said in a statement on Thursday.
Ross, a former National MP, merged his New Zealand Public Party with Advance NZ in July. The party registered 0.9 percent of the vote at the election.
Discussing the party on Newshub Nation, Ross told host O'Brien "we gave it a good go".
"It clearly wasn't enough but I've enjoyed the opportunity to work with all the people that I have," he said on Sunday.
O'Brien asked Ross if he had any regrets being part of an election campaign that was peddling misinformation.
"You know exactly what you were doing; you were whipping up fear and hysteria among vulnerable communities," she told Ross.
Ross again tried to make claims COVID-19's fatality rate is similar to the seasonal flu - something experts have disproven. O'Brien interjected before moving on.
"I don't want to hear any of that rubbish," she said.
She went on to ask Ross why he pulled out of the running for the Botany electorate - where he was the incumbent MP. The seat was won by National's Christopher Luxon on Saturday night.
"I wanted to focus on the nationwide campaign with Advance New Zealand. We had 62 brand new candidates," Ross replied.
He claims had he stood, he would have "taken so much vote off Luxon that Labour would have won the seat".
"You're dreaming, mate," O'Brien said.
