Labour says it was “inappropriate” for a post which depicted Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden as a Nazi to be reshared to one of the party’s Facebook pages.
Van Velden announced changes to pay equity claims last Tuesday, saying the Government would discontinue 33 current pay claims.
It was slammed by the Opposition and unions, who described it as “absolutely appalling” and a “dark day for New Zealand women” respectively.
By the following day, a social media post was circulating with an image depicting van Velden wearing a military uniform next to a Nazi banner.
The post referred to van Velden as Gauleiter, a term used by the Nazi Party for leaders.
It also stated she was the “Minister of Public Enlightenment and Readjustment”. This was likely a reference to the Nazi Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, which controlled the content of press, literature, visual arts, film, theatre, music and radio.
The post was reshared by a member of the Labour Whangaparāoa volunteer team on its Facebook page of Wednesday, a day after the changes were announced.
Labour general secretary Rob Salmond said a party volunteer reposted an “inappropriate” image made by another user to a local Labour Facebook page.
“The same day, a leader in our local volunteer team removed this content from Labour’s local Whangaparāoa page. We agree with our local team’s decision to immediately remove the content, as the image was not appropriate.”
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden said Labour had “lost all perspective” and resorted to “nasty personal attacks”.
She said the post was especially offensive because her grandfather had lived under Nazi occupation.
Van Velden also said the Government was not reducing anyone’s pay and was not removing equal pay legislation.
“This is not changing, this Government is committed to women,” she said. “We have improved the pay equity system to give greater confidence in genuine equity issues and correctly identify them so that we have a robust, workable and sustainable system for all New Zealanders.”
