Silence of Women’s Affairs speaks volumes

National Party Families spokeswoman Judith Collins says “the silence of Women’s Affairs over the comments made by John Tamihere speaks volumes”.

“If John Tamihere was a National MP, I’m certain the reaction from Women’s Affairs and the Women’s Affairs Minister, Ruth Dyson, would have been quite different.

“Given the Ministry’s silence, one can only assume Mr Tamihere was correct when he talked about Labour being governed by single interest lobby groups,” says Ms Collins.

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs has a stated goal to ‘draw attention to and provide advice to advance the status of women in Aotearoa New Zealand’.

“If this Ministry had any integrity it would have at least issued some statement condemning the comments made by a former Cabinet Minister and a current member of this Labour Government.

“If Helen Clark was serious when she said ‘I believe that women politicians do have a special responsibility to women’, then she would have required Mr Tamihere to make a full public retraction.

“National believes the Women’s Affairs Ministry has done the women of New Zealand a grave disservice. Their lack of objectivity in this matter has laid bare their political bias,” says Ms Collins.

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