National Leader Simon Bridges says an "emotional" junior staffer was responsible for deleting a National petition against New Zealand signing the UN Migration Compact.
This is despite a National Party spokesperson telling media that the petition was "archived some weeks ago" as part of "normal web maintenance".
Speaking to media this morning, Bridges said when that comment was made to the Spinoff yesterday, it was his understanding that this had been the case.
"What had actually happened, I have learned this morning, was that a junior staffer was incredibly emotional on Friday night and took it upon themselves to delete it – we didn't know that until this morning."
Asked if that was the right decision, Bridges said: "Honestly, I don't know".