The Northern Advocate yesterday published a column by Whangārei List MP and National Party Health spokesman Dr Shane Reti headlined "No covid victory parade for mental health".
The article said New Zealand should not have a "victory parade" over its low Covid-19 death toll yet because the effect of lockdowns on mental health was not yet clear. Two graphs showed hospital admissions for self-harm, which the article said were provided by the Health Minister. Reti has since confirmed it was provided by the Ministry of Health.
"The ... graphs require further data analysis but seem to point to a story of generally increasing intentional self-harm," Reti wrote.
The graphics produced by Reti in the article, which the Advocate published in good faith, were subsequently called into question. The Advocate and Reti agreed to remove the article from the newspaper's website until he clarified data within them.
Reti said late yesterday afternoon he had wanted to "double-check the data".
