Just first up — I was overwhelmed (and am still overwhelmed) by the response to last week’s newsletter about, well, death. In over 200 comments you shared your thoughts and experiences. It got deeply personal and I just wanted to say “thanks”. It helped me, and I think it helped other readers, too. I’ll have more to say later on all the discussion that took place.
Okay.
Like many people in New Zealand, I was amazed to see this photo doing the rounds last week:
Harete Hipango poses with Voices for Freedom supporters (Source: Harete Hipango)
It was a photo posted by New Zealand politician Harete Hipango, posing in front of people holding Voices for Freedom signs:
“It’s not about health, it’s about control,”read one.
Harete Hipango is a Member of Parliament for the National Party.
Voices For Freedom is a conspiracy theory group who’ve become well known for spreading health disinformation, primarily in the form of protests, large Facebook advertising spends, and extensive mail drops. It was started by a failed politician who used to run a food blog:
Voices for Freedom was founded by Claire Deeks, a failed political party candidate for a failed political party. Deeks has been a practicing lawyer (yep, the legal profession has its fare share of anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists) and loves a good roast chicken:
Claire Deeks with a dead chicken
Before she went down the rabbit hole, Deeks was into wellness, starting a “paleo kid’s food blog” called Dom’s Kitchen. Like Paleo Pete and other wellness and diet warriors before them, Deeks was quick to stumble into conspiracy chaos.
Voices for Freedom’s maildrops in particular are full of false information, as I’ve chronicled here. They continue in 2022 — and I regularly hear from readers who’ve received their latest missives in their letterbox:
“Reactions to the vaccine are common and serious adverse events are having devastating and likely life-long effects” (Note: this is untrue)
With all that mind, it was strange to see a member of the National Party beaming widely in front a group that exists solely to spread falsehoods.
Word about the photo spread online, and National leader Chris Luxon had words to Hipango. She removed her post from social media, telling Newshub:
“I have taken down the Facebook post I made earlier today — it has been pointed out to me that it could convey an anti-vaccination message which was never my intention”.
To me, this was worse than the original post because at least the original post was honest. Her beaming in front of disinformation merchants was honest. It was her.
Because I think it’s a real stretch for her to indicate she had no idea what the protest represented, and what those people were there for. I say this because she also appeared at another anti-vax, anti-lockdown protest in November last year:
“I’m here to support my community,” she said, when asked if she was there to support the protest.”
When asked what she was doing there, a familiar line of logic appeared:
“She left soon after Newshub clocked her, saying later she thought it was a protest about something else.”
Let’s review:
“She thought it was a protest about something else.”
“It has been pointed out to me that it could convey an anti-vaccination message which was never my intention.”
Let’s look at one more example of how this politician’s brain operates — this one from June of last year, when she got into Parliament. On her Facebook page, this appeared:
As you can see, it appears to be Harete Hipango complimenting herself on her return. Harete Hipango also congratulates Harete Hipango’s speech.
On the surface, this is quite funny and sort of pure. Anyone who’s run a public Facebook page has probably accidentally posted something while logged in as someone else. However you do start to wonder who she was meant to be logged in as to make this post. A sock puppet account, I guess? But anyway — who hasn’t patted themselves on the back for something?
It was her explanation for that incident that stood out to me (because of course it caught reporters’ attention):
She later blamed it on “someone else”.
“I shall try to address and sort,” she wrote.
“She later blamed it on someone else”.I think it’s fair to say you can see a pattern emerging here.
Look — Voices for Freedom is not subtle in New Zealand. She knew who they were, and she knew she was offering support. She also knew that at the last protest she turned up at.
Since I’ve covered conspiracy theory groups in New Zealand and beyond, I often get asked questions along the lines of, “Why are these groups allowed to function?”
Short answer — of course they are allowed to function. Short of hate speech, you can say pretty much anything you want. You can scream your opinions as loudly as you want. That includes opinions that are at odds with the truth. You can litter mailboxes with lies and there are zero consequences.
The bigger question is “Why are a certain number of people taking these groups seriously in the first place? Why is anyone listening to Voices for Freedom? Why are people listening to mommy bloggers over scientists and doctors?”
Part of the answer to that is because they’re publicly endorsed by people like Harete Hipango — her posts and presence add a level of credibility that groups like Voices for Freedom are gagging for. It’s all they want.
Not only does this politician appear to be endorsing disinformation, but when confronted with that fact, she chooses to deny reality itself:
“Never my intention”.
She later blamed it on “someone else”.
“She thought it was a protest about something else.”
This may seem like a little thing, but I think this combination of publicly endorsing disinformation, and then simply stating your own warped take on reality to escape critique is a bad place to be in.
In America, it’s already everywhere — Marjorie Taylor Greene springs to mind.
Marjorie Taylor Green harping on about some bullshit
To be clear — Greene is much more extreme than Hipango. Ridiculously so:
“Ms. Greene won the primary election for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District in August 2020, after rising to prominence by posting unabashed support for President Trump and for QAnon, a movement tied to the baseless conspiracy theory that a group of global liberal elites run a child sex ring that Mr. Trump would stop.”
But both politicians appear to be embracing and endorsing mistruths in various ways, safe in the knowledge that this is perfectly acceptable in 2022.
I guess since 2016, we’ve gotten pretty used to this approach in America — but it’s a bummer to see it in New Zealand.
Conspiracy theorists and disinformation have an increasingly safe space to operate in — the rulebook for endorsing disinformation and denying the nature of reality increasingly embraced by a small but significant portion of the public, and now Parliament.
PS: I reached out to MP Harete Hipango, National Party leader Chris Luxon, and the National Party’s press secretary for comment. They are yet to respond. If they’re reading this they can reach me at davidfarrier@protonmail.com.
EDIT: Luxon’s office has responded. They added absolutely nothing of worth:
Hi David,
Happy New Year and thanks for your email. Apologies for the delay coming back to you.
Feel free to attribute the following to Christopher:
“I have talked to Harete and she has taken her post down. The views of the group she was with do not align with those of the National Party.
“I am strongly supportive of vaccination, as is the National Party. I encourage everyone to take that step as the best protection, for themselves and their family, against COVID.”
We won’t have anything further to add to that statement.
In future, please feel free to send requests or queries for the National Leader/MPs to our media team email, nlo-press@parliament.govt.nz, so someone in our team can get back to you promptly.
Kind regards,
Marek Townley
Office of Christopher Luxon
PPS: Remember Lonely Lingerie, the niche lingerie brand (marketing itself on inclusivity and body positivity) that went down the QAnon and Starseed rabbit hole? Well, their co-founder has been present on Instagram again where she is of course defending everyone’s favourite DJ, DJ Dimension:
To be clear, this isn’t about fear — it’s about protecting the most vulnerable in society (probably those who don’t purchase Lonely Lingerie products).
Have you notice that, when spoken, anti-vax sounds very similar to anti-facts, which is, indeed, an accurate description of these people!
“Marjorie Taylor Green harping on about some bullshit”
Best photo caption ever. I LOLed