Winston Peters is refusing to give up the fight after asking questions about Green MP Benjamin Doyle. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Winston Peters is refusing to give up the fight after asking questions about Green MP Benjamin Doyle, who in turn is refusing to "be disappeared by hate".
Doyle broke their silence on Tuesday, saying they had received hundreds of threats, including death threats, against them and their child over recent weeks.
The threats are over images shared on social media under Doyle's private account named "BibleBeltBussy" from before they entered Parliament in October.
It included photos, including of their child, and had the caption "Bussy Galore". The term 'bussy' is slang, used by some in the queer community, a portmanteau of 'boy' and 'pussy'.
Doyle on Tuesday explained what they intended it to mean.
"The post at the centre of these baseless attacks includes 10 images from a range of activities and moments in my life, with a pop culture pun in the caption. 'Bussy galore' is an in-joke and a nickname. The translation here is 'me at large living my best life'.
"I recognise that Bussy is not a term all rainbow people use or like, but it is one that is commonly understood and appreciated by my friends and community ... it's kind of a nickname or persona for me, much like, I dunno, a character like Fred Dagg ... Bussy Galore is a wordplay of the character from the James Bond novel Goldfinger, Pussy Galore."
Other social media users reposted the images and captions without that context. Peters had posted on Saturday suggesting police could investigate, saying media would have reported on it earlier had Doyle been from a coalition party.
The Greens spoke to media last week, saying Doyle was getting death threats. The MP has remained absent from Parliament since then over fears for their safety.
Green MP Benjamin Doyle. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
On Tuesday, Doyle said the threats numbered in the hundreds, and revealed the Green Party had advised the posts be deleted - but that never happened because "I am here to bring my full self into Parliament and to represent my communities in the most authentic way possible".
Peters to fight on
Peters did not seem satisfied, telling RNZ the posts on Doyle's account "are not there innocently".
"Why did the Green Party tell Doyle to take his post down when he was a candidate, but they didn't say that to the media last week - no, they said it today - and then proceeded, lastly, to defend those very posts they now claim to [have] originally told him to remove," Peters said.
Doyle uses they/them pronouns.
"Where is the accountability, where's the responsibility for the Green Party, and here they are hiding behind the rainbow community who in thousands and thousands of cases are hopping mad they're being misused in this way and I've never seen such a flimsy excuse of victimhood.
"When this started to happen they said they were, there was, victims of death threats, which is inexcusable - any threat like that is inexcusable - but they never even told the police, no, they told Parliamentary Security."
Doyle on Tuesday offered to speak to Peters directly.
"No, no, no, no, I'm sorry, he can speak directly to the police and all those international bodies that are concerned at these sort of posts," Peters said.
"Those are the people he needs to speak to, not me, I'm not an inquirer ... I'm not the police, I'm not the authority, I'm just asking a simple question of the mainstream media."
Parliamentary Security has referred at least one of Doyle's concerns to police, and the Green Party says Doyle themselves has been speaking to police.
Police have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Peters rejected Doyle's explanation they had been asked to remove the posts because of safety or online abuse concerns.
"If that was the truth, why did they take him to tell him it down when he was a candidate, before he even came to Parliament? You see what I mean? Their explanation won't stand up to one serious question.
"How come there's a special standard for them, a flimsy standard for them, and all the rest of us are being held accountable?"
The Post newspaper has revealed the originator of the online criticism was businessman Rhys Williams, reporting that his thousands of posts since 2023 include abusive language about politicians, and one saying he started the account to get people to vote for New Zealand First.
Peters said he has no memory of meeting the man, who is not a member of the party.
His own social media posts said NZ First will not "let this flimsy excuse of 'victim hood' succeed".
Asked how he would do that, he promised "you'll find out".
Green Party responds
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson explained why she had not pushed harder for the posts to be taken down.
"None of us could have predicted the way that this was rarked up, and the extreme rhetoric that happened ... none of us knew that this was what was going to happen - it was simply something that could be easily taken out of context.
"That was something that was advised and then the decision is, as Benjamin has said, is then left up to them."
When asked why the Greens did not earlier explain the context behind the posts, or earlier explain that the party had asked for the posts to be taken down, she said it was "for Benjamin to speak to".
"That was for Benjamin to stand in their strength like they did today, and walk through the whole situation."
She said the reason Doyle had delayed speaking out was to prioritise their safety.
"They were fearful for their life and the life of their family and their child. They felt unsafe. It would have been completely neglectful for me as a co-leader, to think that they could have done a stand up at that time."
She said there was no guarantee that if Doyle had spoken earlier it would have prevented death threats being levelled against them.
"We can't even guarantee that the death threats will shut down right now, even though Benjamin has spoken, it was clear that we needed to put first and center the total safety and wellbeing, and I'm pleased that we did that."
"Politicians can do what they want to. That's for them to answer to. I want to be really clear. We need to be calling the responsibility for all of us to take the heat out of the rhetoric."
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