National MP Harete Hipango says she regrets the "unwise decision" to task a staff member with editing her Wikipedia page.
Hipango has various controversies listed on her Wikipedia page, including allegations of misspending Parliamentary funds, using a false quote, and being present at anti-vaccination protests.
Allegations emerged that Hipango was trying to edit the selection of prior controversies, after a person making edits to her Wikipedia page identified themselves as her staff member.
"I am Harete Hipango's staff member and am editing her page on her behalf. She's stated that much of the information in the "Controveries" [SIC] section is false, and is causing a lot of distress to her family," the editor said.
Other Wikipedia editors judged that this meant the editor had a likely conflict of interest and therefore undid the changes made to Hipango's page.
Hipango, the former Whanganui MP who returned to Parliament on National's list in May last year following Nick Smith's resignation, has now admitted that it was her staffer who made the edits.
"Earlier this week I asked a staff member to edit my Wikipedia page," she said in a statement to Newshub on Thursday.
"I recognise that this was an unwise decision and I regret that it may be distracting from what we should be focused on, which is holding the Government to account."
Hipango did not elaborate on which of the controversies listed on her Wikipedia page she believed to be false.
