PM Chris Hipkins reacts to the news that National candidate Stephen Jack has resigned and responds to National's selection criteria. Video / NZ Herald
The National Party’s candidate for Taieri, Stephen Jack, has resigned after it was revealed he reposted a poem on social media comparing Jacinda Ardern to Adolf Hitler.
A party spokesperson confirmed to the Herald that Jack resigned on Wednesday night.
According to Stuff, the poem that was first posted in 2021 was still accessible on Wednesday on his personal Facebook profile.
It contains the lines: “Just as Hitler had the SS, our prime minister’s on the job. She’s given up on the police and bought the Mongrel Mob.”
The Schutzstaffel, a powerful paramilitary organisation more commonly known by the initials SS, was used by the Nazi Party to carry out security, surveillance and the mass murder of about six million Jews throughout Germany and occupied Europe during World War II.
Ross Agnew, a farmer from Balclutha, is credited with initially writing the “Enough is Enough” verse on Facebook, Stuff reported, before it was reposted by Jack. The poem also took aim at other ministers.
The post comes after a sexist joke surfaced in a video drawing a comparison between Covid-19 and young women on Jack’s Facebook page.
“I like my Covid like I like my women. 19. And easy to spread,” the joke read.
Following media inquiries, Jack, who was the candidate for the former Dunedin South electorate, then removed the post on Friday.
Today, National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis, who labelled the joke “disgusting”, told Newstalk ZB that Jack had apologised. Party leader Christopher Luxon also said the joke was “pretty crass”.
Jack isn’t the only National Party candidate to have their comments come under scrutiny.
Maungakiekie candidate Greg Fleming previously compared same-sex civil unions to incest and polygamy. His remarks were made in 2004 when Fleming was the managing director of the Maxim Institute, a socially conservative think tank, and he subsequently distanced himself from them.
Luxon said Fleming had disclosed the remarks to the party ahead of his selection last month.
Last year, it was revealed Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell had been compelled to leave King’s College at age 16 after a bullying incident on a 13-year-old that was followed by claims of drunken and abusive behaviour as a student at the University of Otago.
It was after this that Luxon introduced a new selection process for party candidates.
In an interview with Newshub Nation last year, Luxon said the party had made “some progress around candidate selection and vetting”.
National leader Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“We haven’t got it all right. It’s not a perfect process. But we’re dealing with people and people are grossly imperfect.
“We’ve made some improvements … we need to make some more.”
Earlier this week, it was reported Luxon defended that same selection process.
“We’re doing a good job,” he said. “I am proud of the process I have put in place since becoming the leader, working with the president [of the National Party] to make sure we’ve got a very good vetting process.”
