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Green MP Sue Bradford said yesterday she was upset that people were pointing the finger at Folole Muliaga's family since her death.
"To hear people turning all the blame for this tragedy on to Folole Muliaga and her family reminds me of the worst of the 1980s and 1990s," she said during a snap debate in Parliament about power disconnections.
"Worse is the racist 'blame the victim' view that seems to have gained such a foothold in our communities, particularly in places like talkback radio."
Ms Bradford also said the Government had not gone far enough with plans to strengthen existing guidelines, which should instead be made mandatory.
Social Development Minister David Benson-Pope outlined what the Government was doing in response to the Muliaga case, and the National Party accused Prime Minister Helen Clark of grandstanding after the death.
National's state-owned enterprises spokesman, Gerry Brownlee, said Helen Clark had made a strongly worded response to the death, but then backed away from regulation and reverted to the voluntary guidelines already in place for electricity companies.
"I certainly don't think the Prime Minister deciding to grandstand on the back of this family's tragedy and then do nothing is acceptable," Mr Brownlee said. "Because that's what this Government has done."
United Future leader Peter Dunne said he had previously spoken out about an intrusion into the family's grief not because the Prime Minister had attended Mrs Muliaga's funeral, but because of the bickering between Labour and National about the case, particularly on the morning of the funeral.
