Summarised by Centrist
Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke has deleted a social media post after appearing to claim that “65%” of her work involved visiting rangatahi in “juvenile centres, correction centres or OT”.
Her office later told Chris Lynch Media the post contained a “wording error” and was meant to refer to time spent with rangatahi and youth in the electorate generally, not visits to correctional or youth justice facilities.
MPs must obtain permission from the relevant minister before visiting facilities under that minister’s responsibility.
Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell’s office said records showed Maipi-Clarke had made one prison visit this year.
Children’s Minister Karen Chhour was more direct, saying there had been “zero emails to my office” and “zero visits to a youth justice centre”.
The Platform’s Michael Laws contrasted the lack of mainstream interest with coverage of Shane Jones’ travel spending, saying Jones had gone “to a conference, which he actually went to, a conference that really existed with real people”.
“I’m all for advocating for our most vulnerable,” Chhour said, “but to out and out tell porkies and tales” was another matter.
Maipi-Clarke’s office said the post had been misread and removed once the issue was raised.
“There was an error in the wording of the post,” the office said.
“The original post’s intention was to highlight spending 65% of time with Rangatahi / Youth in the electorate in general, not at correctional facilities.”
The office added that “common sense would have seen the post was a wording error” and said “a phone call would have solved the issue without any hassle”.
The controversy has also revived criticism from National MPs, with Chris Bishop calling Maipi-Clarke a “repeat offender”.
He pointed to a 2023 incident in which Maipi-Clarke said during a debate that people “ram-raided” her home and “came into my house and threatened me”.
Police later said the incident had been incorrectly reported as a ram raid and was instead a theft.
“Police do not believe that the incidents have been racially motivated or coordinated,” Detective Inspector Darrell Harpur said at the time.
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