New Zealand First Candidate Michael Laws Faces Backlash Over Sexist Remarks Prior to Election

Michael Laws, the sixth-ranked candidate for New Zealand First, has sparked controversy just days before the general election by making sexist remarks aimed at female candidates from the Opportunity Party. Party leader Winston Peters dismissed the incident as a foolish error, stating that Laws used language he had never employed previously. Laws subsequently apologized for causing offense following a reprimand from Peters, though he defended his past remarks by claiming they were either meant as jokes or taken out of context. When questioned about his history of controversial statements regarding women, Laws pointed to having a strong partner and daughters as proof that he holds no prejudice. This recent event follows a long pattern of public controversies. In March 2012, while working as a radio broadcaster alongside his duties as the mayor of Whanganui, Laws questioned a survey by Women's Refuge and the SPCA about people staying in abusive relationships to protect pets, asking listeners if such individuals practically invited abuse. During the same month, he told a radio guest representing a dog association that she should wear a muzzle, an action that later led the Broadcasting Standards Authority to rule the conduct as unacceptable personal abuse and prompted a station apology. Later that year, a newspaper column he wrote argued that contraception and abortion are exclusively the responsibility of women. In 2022, while serving on the Otago Regional Council, he published social media posts criticizing the bodies of overweight women, which he later defended as a commentary on unhealthy role models.

Context

Public figures in New Zealand frequently face intense media scrutiny and regulatory oversight during election campaigns, where past public statements and media archives are often re-examined. Talkback radio broadcasting standards and local government conduct rules in the country are overseen by formal bodies like the Broadcasting Standards Authority to address personal abuse or fairness breaches. Political parties often have to manage candidate controversies swiftly in the final days leading up to a national vote to limit electoral damage.