A New Zealand First candidate is in a spat with an Auckland community hub for not letting her use their toilet. But the group says it couldn't let a stranger into the facility because it was running a school holiday programme.
Anne Degia-Pala QSM is the Kelston candidate and number 15 on the party's list. On Monday Degia-Pala hit out at the Community House on Pisces Road in Glen Eden, accusing them of not allowing her to use their bathroom when she needed to.
"After walking around in Glen Eden today, I needed to use a wash room. Saw a Community House on Pisces Rd, went in and was refused entry to use the ladies. Was told it's not a Council facility and run by a board so no public access was allowed. Oh What To Do? [Sic] Unkindness is gross," she wrote.
However, someone involved with the community house claimed they were there when Degia-Pala asked but couldn't let her in because they were running an after-school programme and it was a safety issue.
"We do have school holiday programme in place, so under the Vulnerable Children's Act, we cannot just let anybody into the building," they said.
Another person who is involved in running the Community House backed this up saying, "We are governed by law not to allow unauthorised non-police-vetted into the building while we have children on site."
Degia-Pala declined to comment when contacted by Newshub.
The Facebook post made its way to Reddit, where many pointed out the irony of her demands to use the toilet, while her party is campaigning on toilet "safety".
"Wait, so someone from the party of toilet policing gets upset that other people have rules for accessing their toilets??" one person said.
"Thought their key policy was supposedly all about making toilets safe for women & children?? She felt entitled, as a random stranger to use a space rented by another group," said another.
If elected New Zealand First is promising to pass legislation that would require all new public originations to provide separate and clearly demarcated, unisex and single-sex bathrooms. The legislation would also ban anyone from accessing facilities designed for the opposite sex.
The policy has been contentious with candidate Lee Donoghue recently clashing with Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick about it during TVNZ's Young Voters Debate.
In the debate Donoghue defended his party's policy saying, "People are concerned about this. We have people basically saying to us, 'Hey, I was assaulted in a bathroom by a biological male, this is wrong'."
However when he was asked for evidence and statistics to back up his claim, Donoghue said: "I don't have them in front of me right now, but it's a true thing. We want to make sure everyone's safe."
Swarbrick hit back saying, "If you want to talk about the actual stats... what we know full well is our trans and non-binary and gender minority whānau are disproportionately represented in mental-ill health, addiction and suicide statistics."
Studies quoted during the debate also revealed transgender people are four times more likely to be the victims of violent crime when compared to cisgender people.
