ACT leader David Seymour has called accusations of hate speech from a Rotorua councillor to a mayoral candidate “absurd”. Stuff reported on the row between councillor Tania Tapsell and mayoral hopeful Reynold Macpherson, which centres on an online post made by Macpherson on the Facebook page of the Rotorua District Residents & Ratepayers’ lobby group on May 14. The post, a response to a video in which Tapsell encourages more young people to stand for council, is entitled “Beware the charismatic pitch of the Pied Piper”. “He has referenced me as a pied piper who lures away vermin and children and this level of hate speech is totally unacceptable,” Tapsell said.
