ACT leader David Seymour says the Māori and community leaders who called for National to condemn his "race-baiting" policies did so for "purely political reasons".
On Friday morning, a group of Māori and community leaders called for National leader Christopher Luxon to condemn "racist" comments by a New Zealand First candidate and "race-baiting" policies by the ACT Party - both of are the Nats' prospective coalition partners.
A short time after the open letter was published, Seymour fired back in a written press release - saying the group "appear to fight racism for purely political reasons".
"They were silent about Te Pāti Māori's claims that Māori are genetically superior... Or when a Te Pāti Māori candidate said 'The Pākehā concept [of Matariki] is often about getting drunk and releasing fireworks at midnight'. Or when Rawiri Waititi said about European New Zealanders: their 'archaic species is becoming more extinct as a new Aotearoa is on the rise.'"
Seymour said people should oppose racism "all the time" and not when "it's politically convenient".
The letter called for Luxon to condemn "racist" comments and "race-baiting" policies, calling ACT's Democracy or Co-Government policy "ignorant".
"It is ignorant to think you have a right to erase te Tiriti from legislation and rewrite it in your own words," read the letter.
But Seymour said the group's jab at ACT shows "profound ignorance".
"ACT’s policy, set out at some length our document 'Democracy or Co-Government?' is for Parliament, not ACT, to properly define the principles of the Treaty. It was Parliament that said there were principles in the first place, so Parliament is well within its rights to say what those principles mean."
The allegation of race-baiting is "a serious accusation backed up by zero evidence", Seymour said. "These self-appointed leaders should be more responsible with accusations of racism. By misusing such a powerful accusation, they damage its meaning and make it harder to fight actual racism.
Luxon, meanwhile, also hit back at the letter on Friday - condemning racism "in all its forms".
The National leader called out Labour's Chris Hipkins, accusing him of being "desperate" for starting the conversation.
