A group claiming to comment on behalf of taxpayers says it has been misrepresented in comments made about a Green Party MP.
The Taxpayers Union and director Jordan Williams have come under fire on social media websites this morning following a NZ Herald story where Mr Williams criticised deaf Green MP Mojo Mathers for travelling to Masterton for an interview on a community radio station.
ArrowFM has a programme for people with disabilities, and Ms Mathers flew to Wellington before driving to Masterton to be interviewed.
In the Herald story Mr Williams is quoted as saying:
"It's amazing that she has so little to do with her time to actually travel to a community radio that probably has as many listeners as you can count on your hand.
"The only silver lining is that the time spent travelling to go on the station in the middle of nowhere is less time spent dreaming up new ways to spend tax payers money."
But after being contacted by 3 News following backlash on social media where the union have been likened to the National Front and American right-wing Tea Party, Mr Williams says his comments have been reported in a poor light.
He says the Herald did not explain Ms Mathers' travel arrangements or the around $550 cost of the travel, leading him to believe she had flown to 800km to Masterton.
There are no commercial plane services to the Wairarapa town, which would have required Ms Mathers to charter a plane at considerable cost.
"I'm a little bit annoyed the journalist didn't mention the figure, I thought it was a bit more," he says.
3 News contacted the Herald, who say the cost calculations had not been estimated at the time they interviewed Mr Williams, but iterated he has some responsibility to ensure he knows all the facts of a story before commenting.
Mr Williams says the Herald approached him about the story last night, but regardless of Ms Mathers' disability the union would have been criticial.
"We didn't pick on her, we were asked to comment on it, if it had been any other MP we would have said similar," he says.
"We were presented with an MP that had travelled for a very small event when the interview could have been done over Skype."
Ms Mathers has tweeted a rebuttal, saying she cannot lip read via the video chat service due to the poor quality of its video.
Mr Williams says his group has a 'proven track record' of criticising all MPs it views as using taxpayer money incorrectly, across all political parties, and disagrees with those labeling him as an extreme-right activist.
"My record of criticising John Key is sound… we have been absolutely fearless in our willingness to criticise the Government."
He is disappointed outcry over his comments claiming he has attacked Ms Mathers' disability, something he says he did not comment on.
"I can understand the tenderness but it's deflecting from the real issue."
3 News
source: newshub archive
