Act Party leader David Seymour believes he was portrayed as a white supremacist which he vehemently denies and says he's defended several incidents of racism in parliament. Photo / File
Act Party leader David Seymour believes he was portrayed as a white supremacist which he vehemently denies and says he's defended several incidents of racism in parliament. Photo / File
ACT MP David Seymour says he believes he has been portrayed as racist - which he rejects as "absolutely absurd".
She also talks about Seymour's comments last month describing her as "a real menace to freedom in this country" - saying the language he used was triggering to white supremacist groups, not encouraging debate.
"I think it was calculated to attack me in particular and I think he wasn't debating the issue," she said in the story.
However, Seymour has hit back saying he believed her response portrayed him as an "inciting white supremacist racist who threatened another member of the public who seeks to avoid debating the key issues and is unworthy of even contacting".
Instead, Seymour says he's been one of the most vocal opponents of racism in Parliament in recent years, citing his response after Labour released leaked real estate data in 2015. It showed a high proportion of houses were being sold to Chinese buyers, based on their surnames.
"I was the first person to respond to that and consistently responded to it over a year after it happened because I thought it was absolutely disgraceful."
Green Party list MP Golriz Ghahraman. Photo / Dean Purcell
"The characterisation of me as somebody who is racist is absolutely absurd."
He said Ghahraman should have approached him about his comments directly at the time if they had offended her.
"Underneath all of this there is an authentic difference of view. She says we're going to need an authority in place and have a conversation about what's acceptable speech and what's not.
"From my point of view that can only mean that someone has the power to say that's naughty, you can't say that and you'll have the following sanctions.
"I think the reason there has been a lot of quiet support for me ... is because people rightly intuit that that is a terrifying prospect."
As for Ghahraman taking his comments personally, Seymour said she "has a right to feel however she likes".
"But what I think is very objectionable is taking a group of people who are violent and anti-social and somehow associating me with them, when all I've done is gone about legitimate debate about a very important topic."
Seymour said it was a "great shame" that Ghahraman received death threats and "I think that those people should stop, but I wouldn't use it to .. implicate another MP who is one of the more thoughtful, anti-racist ones out there."
Asked whether he had received any threats or death threats, Seymour replied, "of course, most MPs have".
As for how the pair could now move forward and work together, Seymour said she needed to acknowledge that he "wasn't a white supremacist".
"And she needs to acknowledge that I'm not avoiding debating the issue ... that when we have threats against us members of parliament the right thing to do is to unite against that violence rather than to start accusing each other on tenuous bases of being the cause of it."
When contacted by the Herald, Ghahraman said she was hoping they could both move on.
"Obviously, I don't think he's a white supremacist," she said.
She said that she had never wanted to criminalise hate speech.
She had only asked for a review of hate speech laws for "vulnerable groups", including the Rainbow community, which was now underway by the minister.
