NZ First leader Winston Peters is not commenting on leaked party documents that are critical of the party. Photo / Mark Mitchell
NZ First leader Winston Peters is not commenting on leaked party documents that are critical of the party. Photo / Mark Mitchell
There has been a further leak of internal NZ First documents, including highly confidential lists of party members and a complaint alleging that local members were ignored in the selection of the 2017 Tamaki candidate.
The leaked material also includes a mock-up of a hoarding which the source said hadbeen intended for the 2017 campaign, but was vetoed "because of racist implications".
It featured the words: "It's about you, not them."
It is the latest in a series of leaks that have included complaints about donations during the last election that allegedly didn't go where they were meant to, and criticism of party leader Winston Peters for planning to take legal action against National Party figures ahead of Government coalition negotiations.
The latest leak included NZ First's list of party members in Auckland, including names and contact details and whether they were current members.
The leaked list includes the contact details of Peters himself, and partner Jan Trotman.
Party's membership lists and numbers and usually closely guarded secrets, although the party must prove to the Electoral Commission that they have the required 500 members to remain registered as a party.
Some members of political parties prefer to stay confidential because of the roles they hold, such as public servants.
Mock-up of a 2017 hoarding that was allegedly vetoed due to racist implications. Photo / Supplied
Also included in the documents is a February 2018 letter from Julie Carr, secretary of the Maungakiekie and Tamaki branches, to the NZ First board.
Carr said that the board had nominated a candidate to stand in Tamaki for the 2017 electorate without consulting the party's active Tamaki members "in any way".
"We think that was negligent and discourteous of the Board of NZ First to have ignored active Tamaki electorate members in this way," Carr's letter says.
"The Active Tamaki members are upset and disappointed at being ignored in the candidate election process for Tamaki Electorate. We would like the Board to apologise to the Active Tamaki members for ignoring their potentiality for nominating a Tamaki Candidate."
Jenny Marcroft, who is now a NZ First MP, stood in Tamaki in 2017.
A spokesman for NZ First said that Peters, who is also Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, had no comment.
"NZF leader Winston Peters has no comment to make about this or any other matter associated with leaked historic party material."
The leaks come in the lead-up to the party's annual conference next weekend and Lester Gray's resignation as party president after refusing to sign off the party's 2019 financial documents.
A previous leak included a laundry list of other complaints about the way the election campaign was run, including how money was used.
In a report titled "NZ First Concerns & Issues Regarding Election", Helen Peterson – who was 20th on the party's list in 2017 – said "members who paid huge amounts of money towards the campaign and promised repayment did not receive any reimbursement".
"Money allocated to support the campaign was not used for the purpose in which it was donated," she alleged in a list of dozens of complaints.
"Members felt exploited as they financed the party's activities with little recognition or reward."
The report goes on to say complaints had been ignored and describes the party as "disorganised, dishonest, and hypocritical".
The Herald earlier reported complaints the selection process was "sexist", with the top 18 members of the party's list only including three women, and included people with membership of less than six months while long-serving members were pushed down.
Notes from a debriefing of the Auckland branch in November 2017 show members laid out a laundry list of concerns about the party's strategy and processes - including a lack of communication, clarity of policy and support for candidates.
