Lee: 'I wish they would let it go'

National MP Melissa Lee faced jeers and taunts from students during a raucous debate at the University of Auckland. Photo / Richard Robinson

National MP Melissa Lee was branded a racist by students attending a debate yesterday among the main contenders in the Mt Albert byelection.

Before the meeting started at Auckland University, pamphlets for the National candidate were torn up and students passed a resolution, supported by hundreds, to declare Ms Lee a racist over comments she made about South Auckland.

Ms Lee and Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman arrived to jeering. A Polynesian student yelled, "I am not a criminal".

A struggle broke out over a sign with Ms Lee's face on it with the word "racist" scrawled across her forehead.

Auckland University Student Association president Darcy Peacock announced that the meeting wouldn't start "until the stolen property was returned".

The union said later that the resolution was "not yet official policy".

Four candidates took part in the debate, the others being Act list MP John Boscawen, Labour's David Shearer and Green Party co-leader Russel Norman.

But when it was Ms Lee's turn to speak she was booed, before Mr Peacock appealed to the crowd to let her "have her say".

National's embattled candidate found that comments she made last Wednesday saying "a motorway would divert criminals from South Auckland" just wouldn't go away.

"You guys are obviously students and do not watch television. I did actually say I made a mistake and I was sorry," she said, to more booing.

The Waterview connection motorway was the main issue of the debate, and Ms Lee said she supported having the part-tunnel, part-motorway option because it was "pragmatic".

She said public transport was important, but only part of the solution, and would not support Labour's proposal of a fully underground option.

Mr Shearer said the motorway would "split a community in half".

Dr Norman criticised the motorway as a "1950s-style project" and said the way to the future was to spend the money improving public transport, walkways and cyclepaths.

Mr Boscawen said the motorway should have been built 15 years ago.

Ms Lee ended her day at the debate fronting reporters saying, "I certainly am not a racist.

"I wish they would let it go because I have apologised, and I can't do anything more than that. I feel terrible about it, and we need to move on," she said.

"This campaign is not about Melissa Lee, it is about Mt Albert ... and we should get back to the issues."

The byelection is on June 13.