Senior NZ Labour MP Walks Back ‘Paid to Kill’ Comment on Police Minister

Labour MP Ginny Andersen looks on during a visit to Naenae Pool in Wellington, New Zealand, on July 30, 2020. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

Senior Labour New Zealand MP Ginny Andersen, who was police minister until the recent change of government, has had to walk back her comments about the current Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, whom she accused on radio of having been “paid to kill.”

The two feature in a regular spot where they debate current issues. When the host asked both MPs what they had done before entering politics, Mr. Mitchell referred to his time working in hospitality, as a police officer, and working overseas.

That prompted Ms. Andersen to claim he had been “paid to kill people” and to ask if he kept a “tally of how many you shot,” saying, “If that’s alright with you, Mark, morally, and if that sits well with you, that’s your choice.”

Mr. Mitchell called the claim “outrageous” and requested an apology, but Ms. Andersen replied “Free speech Mark, I’m allowed to have a view.”

Later, Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins said he believed his MP “went too far” and said she'd told him she had apologised.

“I don’t agree with all of her comments either ... I would prefer [if] we as politicians kept out of MP’s own backgrounds ... I don’t intend to go trawling back through other people’s pasts and backgrounds,” he added.

No Interviews Allowed

In a statement released at midday, New Zealand time, Ms. Andersen did not apologise, but acknowledged her comments “crossed a line.”

“I have spoken to Mark this morning to let him know that. Mark Mitchell and I have frequent robust conversations and I enjoy our debates,” she said.

The Labour Party is refusing all media requests to interview Ms. Andersen.

Mr. Mitchell told journalists he felt the Labour MP was being judged “in the court of public opinion.” He acknowledged Ms. Andersen had sent him a text message which contained an apology, but said he considered that insufficient.

“I don’t feel that’s the right way to apologise about something like that but that’s all that I can say here.”

This is the second public apology Ms. Andersen has been forced to make in three months. In November, she formally apologised to a complainant who accused the minister of bullying a teenage volunteer for three years.

Minister talks openly of his background

Mr. Mitchell is open about the fact he worked as a private security contractor in Iraq in 2004, straight after the invasion of that country by U.S.-led forces. In total, he spent about eight years in the Middle East, including doing hostage negotiation work and logistics.

He has previously related an incident where he and others fought thousands of insurgents for five days from the roof of an Italian diplomatic compound in the Iraq city of Nasiriyah.

“We were literally fighting for our lives,” he said. “If they had got into the compound, it’s highly unlikely anyone would have survived.”

He declined to estimate how many insurgents he had killed during that battle, saying: “All I’m going to say is that we were attacked, it was a determined attack, and we had to defend ourselves and that’s what we did.”

He has said in the past that being called a mercenary frustrated him.

“I wouldn’t change anything I’ve done. I’m ... quietly proud, I’m not someone that shouts it from the rooftops—I’m a Kiwi after all. But I’m proud of the difference we made in people’s lives in terms of their security and ability to get on with their lives,” he said.