DON BRASH: The truth about our Māori Ward billboards

The following is written by Don Brash in his capacity as Hobson's Pledge spokesman

We have big plans for our Māori Ward campaign and had planned to ease into this with our billboards and then go full noise next week. But the media, Te Pāti Māori, and activists had other ideas.

There have been lots of stories floating around and I would like to correct the record on a few things, as well as raise some serious concerns.

We were made aware yesterday morning that a woman, named Ellen, was very upset at the use of an image of her on one of our billboards. There was a video of her in tears speaking to media circulating online.

Upon learning of her distress, we immediately instructed billboard company LUMO to take the billboard down and they did so quickly. We did this because we want to have a positive conversation about Māori Wards. Our messages in this campaign are positive. We did not like to hear that Ellen was so upset.

However, we want to be clear that we legally purchased the right to use the image through a reputable stock photography provider. We have since learned that the photo was available for purchase on at least two stock image sites. It remains unclear to us if Ellen knew that the photo was on the sites but was upset to learn that it was being used to encourage Kiwis to vote 'no' to Māori Wards, or if she disputes that she ever gave the photographer permission.

Regardless, Hobson's Pledge simply did what organisations and advertisers do every day... used a stock image.

We have made the decision to show you the image below as although Ellen wanted the billboard taken down, the media have been publishing this photo in which she poses in front of it.

As I say, we did not want Ellen to be distressed and were happy to take the billboard down. We will be getting new designs completed in the next couple of days and hope to have them back up next week.

I say "hope" because the inevitable has happened. The media attention has created an activist feeding frenzy, and I am seriously concerned.

Te Pāti Māori were quick to post images of the billboard on their social media pages along with the personal phone numbers of people working at LUMO. This was the contact information of staff - from the finance team to marketing to sales. They have all received huge numbers of abusive phone calls, including threats. This was explicitly what Te Pāti Māori wanted. They said they "encouraged" their supporters to contact the staff from the company.

As of about an hour or two ago, the party has removed the post from their Facebook and Instagram. But it was too late. The comments on the post itself were atrocious, but the intimidation campaign they instigated was unacceptable.

My own address was posted publicly also. We were told we were going to get "smashed", "death to all white people" was called for, and there were open plans discussed to destroy the digital billboards.

This is interesting as just this afternoon the Herald posted a story about how Te Pāti Māori set their supporters on someone else because they suspected him of defacing Te Pāti Māori signs.

The accusation appears to be completely unfounded, but the man has received loads of "vile messages" including photos of his children posted online. He is now terrified that he could "lose everything" because his small business is being targeted.

This is Te Pāti Māori. It is completely unacceptable.

They want us all arguing over stock photos while they wage intimidation campaigns and use their supporters as some kind of stand-over mob.

Unfortunately, we are accustomed to the appalling behaviour of those who oppose us. But others aren't and it is frightening and concerning for them to be confronted with violent rhetoric and nastiness.

This is the strategy of Te Pāti Māori and their activists. They scare other organisations and businesses away from offering their services to us in an attempt to make it harder for us to get our message out. It is called the "thugs veto".

But they underestimate our determination. No matter what happens, we will make sure Kiwis get to hear about our campaign urging them to vote 'no' to Māori Wards. They also forget that when they attack us in the media, they share our message with many, many more New Zealanders. After yesterday a lot more of the public are aware of the campaign and of Māori Wards referenda.

We are having our billboards redesigned and we will continue to campaign against Māori Wards. This is what we are focused on.

We need your support more than ever as Te Pāti Māori and the media use any means to attack us. If you haven't chipped in yet, but would like to, you can click here.

We also need your moral support. We need to stick together, unified behind the message of equal rights for all. We are all New Zealanders and at Hobson's Pledge we value Māori New Zealanders as much as any other New Zealanders.

We are willing to withstand the attacks, the threats, and the intimidation because the future of this country is too important for us to back down. Are you with us?