A pamphlet written by campaign group Better Wellington contains claims about wasteful council spending and city-wide speed limits. Photo: RNZ / Supplied
- Postal workers refused to distribute nearly 80,000 copies of the leaflet on Monday.
- Islamic group says statement reinforces anti-Islamic sentiment and risks provoking others into action.
- Posties will deliver the pamphlet to maintain unity after threats of disciplinary from NZ Post.
- The Human Rights Commission have been asked to clarify the legality of the content of the document.
The Postal Workers Union says it is seeking clarification from the Human Rights Commission over the legality of a leaflet described as "malicious misinformation" by Islamic groups.
They say NZ Post threatened individual disciplinary action against posties who refused to deliver the document earlier in the week.
But NZ Post said it was not appropriate for the service to act as a censor and the flyers would go out.
On Monday, Wellington posties refused to deliver 80,000 copies of group Better Wellington's flyer which claimed "the council wants the city's six mosques to broadcast the Islamic Call to Prayer across the city".
Abdur Razzaq of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand said the local Islamic Association had approached the council over the possibility of broadcasting the adhān, or call to prayer, on 15 March in remembrance of the 51 people who were murdered in the Christchurch mosque attacks in 2019.
There was no desire to do it more often than this.
He said the group's statement reinforced anti-Islamist sentiment and risked provoking others into action.
"It's not just misinformation, it's malicious misinformation. Coming out and telling this kind of lie and trying to incite hatred against a community. It's wrong, plain and simple," Razzaq said.
Postal Workers Union organiser John Maynard told Midday Report posties had elected to distribute the flyer to maintain solidarity after they were threatened with individual disciplinary action by NZ Post.
"People have a pride in having a clean record at work and they thought that after two days of this particular action they'd had a really significant impact. So they decided that they would deliver the leaflet to maintain the unity of protecting themselves and nobody being picked off for warnings," Maynard said.
Union taking case to the Human Rights Commission
Maynard said the union was seeking clarification from the Human Rights Commission over the legality of flyer's contents.
"The company still has not assured us that this document is legal. So we've talked to the Human Rights Commission because we think it's pretty serious when the company did not want to talk to the Human Rights Commission or the Race Relations Commission themselves," Maynard said.
Maynard said the posties had been buoyed by support from the local Islamic community but some workers were concerned about being vulnerable on the capital's streets due to being easily identified in their uniforms.
"We've had some really nice messages from the Islamic community. They were really effusive in their thanks to us for what we'd done," Maynard said.
NZ Post says leaflet will go out
In a statement on Friday NZ Post said no disciplinary action had been taken against the posties.
"It is not appropriate for NZ Post to act as a censor in determining what it will and won't deliver. The flyers are being delivered by posties at the moment," they said.
Earlier in the week Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau told RNZ she was proud of the Postal Union members who refused to deliver the pamphlets.
"It's pretty disappointing and gross to purposefully put out incorrect information to basically inflame harmful ideals. People are hurting and may feel vulnerable and they're more susceptible for this misinformation and I'm concerned about that," Whanau said.
A spokesperson for the Human Rights Commission confirmed they had been approach by the Postal Workers Union over the matter.
"The content of those conversations is confidential," a spokesperson said.
"To clarify, the commission does not have the power to investigate complaints or decide if a law has been breached. We are not a regulatory body."
The spokesperson said its role was to encourage "harminous relations".
"We encourage all people in Aotearoa New Zealand to do what they can to support communities that are targeted and marginalised, including expressing their care and support."
