Newshub can reveal there are new allegations of bullying behaviour against sitting Labour MP Ginny Andersen from a young person.
In an exclusive interview on Monday, he accused Andersen of being manipulating, nasty and making comments to body-shame people she worked with. Labour is refuting the allegations.
It comes after a complaint was formally made to the party this month about Andersen. Newshub has been leaked the recommendations from the Labour Party general secretary about how to respond to it.
Andersen, appearing on AM last week, denied she was a bully. But hearing those words from the Labour MP made one person who volunteered for Andersen as a teenager angry.
He said she is "definitely" a bully.
"I think that's the perfect word I would use to characterise her and her behaviour towards not just her constituents but employees as well," he said.
Andersen told AM she always treated people respectfully.
The whistleblower spoke to Newshub on the condition of anonymity. He volunteered for Andersen ahead of the 2020 election, when he was 18 years old.
Asked what behaviour he saw, he said: "Just some very like manipulative comments, you know like around body-shaming and just belittling in general."
Andersen has told Newshub in a statement she strongly denies the historic allegations.
She said she knows the person and has supported them over the years. She said they "haven't always agreed on everything in politics, but their description of my conduct just doesn't gel with reality".
Andersen said her door is open to anyone else with concerns.
This person didn't make a formal complaint at the time, but was compelled to speak out now in support of the teenager whose mother complained to the party this month about Andersen's behaviour.
In that complaint, the mother alleged Andersen yelled at her daughter on election night, implying Labour had lost because they didn't do enough door-knocking.
"It's clearly like this isn't one off thing any more, it's a pattern with her," the new whistleblower said on Monday.
Newshub has obtained recommendations from Labour's general secretary about how to respond to the mother's complaint.
Rob Salmond said that despite the significant power imbalance between an MP and a 17-year-old volunteer, Andersen's alleged behaviour was unlikely to be a breach of Labour's code of conduct.
"The behaviour as alleged is at the less serious end of what we'd normally investigate... there appears to be a fairly plausible explanation... the two parties' personalities/senses of humour are just mismatched."
Salmond recommended two options - either to investigate and explore mediation - or defer a decision while Salmond himself explores mediation options.
The whistleblower said: "I think if the party was committed to the people they are elected to serve, if anything, they would hold their MPs accountable."
Andersen has now written that teenage volunteer a formal apology as requested by the complainant, and the complainant has told the party that from their perspective the complaint has been resolved.
