Candidate sacked for tweets from seven years ago

Stuff reports:

A candidate has been removed from the Labour’s Party list following anti-Islamic tweets he made seven years ago.

Kurt Taogaga was at number 68 on the list.

But he is no longer on the list after it was revealed he had supported the then NZ First MP Richard Prosser’s “Wogistan” article in 2013.

Taogaga called it brave and said “we need to see Islam for what it really is”.

A statement from Labour Party president Claire Szabó said the tweets from 2013 do not represent the views of the party.

“The Labour Party is committed to inclusion of all religions, and stands against intolerance. 

The Wogistan article was not a good article. Readers may recall that I broke the story into the media. While there are legitimate criticisms you can make of Islam, the article called for anyone who “looked Muslim” to be banned from flying.

But whether you sack a candidate for a tweet from seven years ago, is another issue.

I’m somewhat surprised the tweets were not picked up earlier. Taogaga was a candidate in 2017 for Labour also. I would have thought/expected all the major parties would trawl through the social media history of candidates as part of background checks.