Police Minister Mark Mitchell’s office has apologised to Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke after reposting a reel on Instagram that falsely claimed the Te Pāti Māori MP’s ancestors came from China and “were yellow Vikings”.
When contacted by 1News about the repost, a spokesperson for the Minister said it was “an honest mistake”.
They said the views in the post did not represent the views of Mitchell or the staff member who reposted the reel.
Mitchell’s office has apologised to Maipi-Clarke for what occurred.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said she is “bloody annoyed that we are seeing this attack on our young wahine”.
She added she is worried about the posts Mitchell’s staff members are looking at.
Ngarewa-Packer is demanding that Mitchell apologises to Maipi-Clarke in person.
“It’s easy to send something across over email and the top public law officer needs to show he’s not associated with these comments,” she said. “It’s his platform and his responsibility.”
