Political commentators have accused ACT leader David Seymour of "dog-whistling" to anti-co-governance supporters.
Appearing on Newshub Nation's political panel, former Green MP Sue Bradford claimed Seymour is calling out to the types of people that attend the controversial anti-governance meetings.
"When you look into the detail [of his policies] on wealth and policing and everything else, it's all about slamming into Māori, slamming into low-income and no-income people, slamming into beneficiaries," Bradford said.
"It's dog-whistling," she said.
NBR senior journalist Dita de Boni agreed, pointing to the language Seymour is using.
"These kinds of things that drip off the tongue… these are dog whistles to [these] kinds of people," de Boni said.
"I don't think he, himself, is like that but he's using the phraseology that appeals to people like that and he's doing it deliberately."
However, Bradford noted every politician and every party does the same to try and appeal to their constituency in a political campaign.
Seymour, earlier on Newshub Nation, denied using race relations as political opportunism in his election campaign.
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