THOMAS CRANMER: When ideology turns violent – the political and media backing behind the Posie Parker mob

• Thomas Cranmer writes – 

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Similar to other countries, the transgender movement in New Zealand is not a grassroots organisation but instead is an increasingly radicalised campaign led by progressive elites

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As images of the Auckland’s violent treatment of Kellie-Jay Keen continue to circulate on major international news channels and social media platforms, more details are emerging of the links between New Zealand’s political and media elite and the aggressive mob which congregated in Albert Park on Saturday morning.

The scene had been set the week prior when the Immigration Minister, Michael Wood, condemned Keen as having “incorrect worldviews”. He was joined by his Cabinet colleagues, Grant Robertson and Kiri Allan, who both expressed their distain for Keen.

“From my perspective I find her views and statements abhorrent,” Robertson said.

“Her bigotry is dangerous and disingenuous. As a country we need to keep our trans community close, and support them through this time. The hateful language is the same that was directed at gays and lesbians in years gone by. It’s the same misinformation and lies that destroyed lives and broke apart families. I for one will never let that rhetoric take hold. We must stand together against bigotry and transphobia.”

Allan said:

“Nope to any person that tries to censor anyone else’s identity – race, sexuality, class, gender – just nope.

“Let’s do what we do, Aotearoa – stand up, make some noise and support our trans whānau by showing up and drowning out any bigotry that seeks to divide and hurt our whānau.”

At the same time, one of the organisers of Saturday’s counter-protest, Rainbow community leader Shaneel Lal, told TVNZ’s Breakfast show allowing someone like Keen to enter the country was normalising the hatred towards queer people.

“Queer hatred is at an all-time high. So when you bring in someone like Posie Parker into our country, what she does is that it normalizes the hatred towards queer people and it emboldens people to act on their hate speech,” Lal said.

“We cannot ensure the safety of queer people at that event, having seen how that event played out in Melbourne.”

Lal is a political activist and Herald columnist who gained prominence by spearheading the ban of conversion therapy last year. It is law so radical that it has the potential to criminalise parents if they stop their children from taking puberty blockers. Currently Lal is shortlisted for the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.

Lal has established impressive political connections over the last five years. In 2018 he was photographed with now Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.

Last year Lal joined a group of Green Party MPs outside Parliament; several of whom were in the midst of the baying mob on Saturday.

In fact it’s believed that Green Party mailing lists were used to mobilize their supporters to turn out to counter-protest the ‘Let Women Speak’ events on Saturday and Sunday.

In Wellington, the Mayor and Green Party member, Tory Whanau, said that Keen would likely receive the same treatment in Wellington as she received in Auckland, and encouraged Wellingtonians to turn up at the counter-protest.

Another one of the organisers of Saturday’s counter-protest, was Max Tweedie, the outgoing executive director of Auckland Pride. Tweedie started his career in politics, as a co-leader of the Greens’ youth wing and deputy campaign manager for Green Party MP Jan Logie. Earlier this year, Tweedie described his role as “a political job of some sorts”.

Tweedie has previously explained that since organisations like Rainbow Youth and InsideOut have siloed tasks, or are government funded, they tend to be reluctant to speak out on hot-button issues. And so the media would come to him instead, “And when producers and journalists have your number, they keep calling you.”

But despite this apparent reluctance to become involved in ‘hot button issues’, Auckland Pride, Gender Minorities Aotearoa and InsideOut Kōaro made an application to the Wellington High Court on Friday “in the pursuit of their charitable purposes which, amongst other things, are to celebrate and advocate for the rainbow and takatāpui communities in New Zealand.”

Their aim was to prevent Keen from entering the country.

These groups receive funding from a number of sources. In the case of Auckland Pride, it receives support from Auckland Council and funding from Foundation North (the trustees of which are appointed by the Minister of Finance and who have included active Labour Party members such as Romy Udanga, and previously, Naisi Chen (now a Labour Party List MP)). Foundation North also recently provided funding for the Tusiata Avia book, The Savage Coloniser, which sparked an outcry over its inflammatory and racially-charged language.

InsideOut Kōaro also received funding from Foundation North, Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Youth.

Gender Minorities Aotearoa is funded in part by the Wellington City Council and the Ministry of Health.

More informally, activists associated with Action Station Aotearoa were also involved on Saturday. Action Station is a community campaigning organisation which is reputedly linked to Pierre Omidyar, a French born Iranian-American tech billionaire well known for funding the progressive movement.

It seems highly questionable for central and local government bodies to be funding groups who quite clearly hold views which are at the extreme end of the spectrum on some issues and who have now demonstrated that they will use force if all other avenues fail. So intolerant are these groups of the free speech rights of others, that Keen could not even utter a single word from the Band Rotunda on Saturday morning before the mob overran the event.

In fact no sooner had Keen stepped foot inside the Rotunda than was she doused with tomato juice from a transgender activist, Eli Rubashkyn. Like Tweedie and Lal, Rubashkyn is a politically connected activist who has been photographed with former Prime Minister Ardern and a gaggle of Green MPs. Rubashkyn has also attended the United Nations to Honour Women for Women’s Month.

Despite the violence and global condemnation, New Zealand’s leaders continue to remain totally captive to their radical gender ideology in the aftermath of the event. Indeed, Prime Minister Hipkins stated yesterday that he would have been proud to be at the counter-protest in Auckland on Saturday despite the violence against women.

Perversely, New Zealand’s Human Rights Commissioner, Paul Hunt, attended the Wellington rally the following day, “because I wanted to demonstrate support for trans friends, colleagues and communities.” Karl du Fresne accurately describes Hunt as “New Zealand’s most useless public servant”.

Although Hunt enjoyed the festive atmosphere in Wellington as activists reveled in Keen’s ejection from the country he did apportion some blame for Auckland at the feet of the police. Yesterday he wrote,

“The state had a human rights responsibility to make arrangements for Keen-Minshull to speak without being assault, intimidated or shouted down. That did not happen.”

But with so much senior political support behind the ruckus, the police were never going to properly discharge their duties. Under the leadership of an insipid and overpromoted Commissioner, the police have become overly politicised and captive to woke ideology. It must be truly demoralizing to be a current member of the rank and file when they have been so badly let down by their leadership and a series of consistently substandard ministers.

The National Party’s police spokesperson, Mark Mitchell, is calling for “a serious review” into why police failed so badly on Saturday. The group Speak Up For Women has laid a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority saying that the police should have done more to stop transgender activists from getting near Keen.

On Tuesday I asked the Minister of Police whether, in light of the criticism made by Paul Hunt, she would be asking for an explanation from the Police Commissioner about any potential shortcomings in relation to the policing of Saturday’s event. An official responded on behalf of the Minister commenting that the issues raised were operational matters better directed to the Commissioner of Police.

Auckland City District Commander, Inspector Grant Tetzlaff on Monday gave a totally incoherent explanation of the events that unfolded on Saturday that was almost entirely detached from reality.

He said, without any hint of irony, that it is the “role of police at events like these to keep the peace, and uphold the law, while recognising the lawful right to protest”.

“As soon as it became clear there was a potential safety risk to the Albert Park event speaker, she was escorted from the area by police staff,” he said.

Despite an elderly lady being punched repeatedly in the face by a young male activist in broad daylight, Tetzlaff confirmed that police did not make any arrests on the day.

Kellie-Jay Keen @ThePosieParker

I accept no apologies from men who commit violence against women, I hope those men are met with the full force of the law.

12:11 PM ∙ Mar 28, 2023

This Labour government may not be able organise housing or education or health or much else, but it can organise an unruly mob within days if it’s necessary to defend its radical gender ideology and prevent people from gathering in the corner of a small Auckland park to discuss women’s issues. And that, maybe, is the most shocking element to this outrage. It was in all respects a politically sanctioned and organised mob. Free speech was silenced, and a speaker ejected from the country, by political violence. In New Zealand.

Kellie-Jay Keen @ThePosieParker

We broke the world so everyone could see it needs fixing.

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• Thomas Cranmer is the pseudonym of a lawyer with over 25 years experience in some of the world’s biggest law firms who writes on Substack  exploring issues facing NZ. This article was first published HERE.