Tāmaki Makaurau

Labour Party candidate Karen Leone has pulled out of the Tāmaki Makaurau race for the election.

This is after a video emerged of her campaigning alongside the mongrel mob, which contradicted her original claim that she was at a whānau event.

Chris Hipkins is the leader of the Labour Party.

Chris Hipkins has labelled Green and Te Pati Māori MP's recent gang pad visit a massive error of judgement.

Te Pati Māori MP Oriini Kaipara says her Tāmaki Makaurau opponent, Kieran Leone, went to the pad prior to her own visit and then deleted a social media post about it.

Chris Hipkins says Karen Leone has been open about having whanau in gangs.

I have not asked her for a detailed breakdown of every interaction that she's had with members of her own family, but she did say yesterday that she had not visited a gang pad as part of her election campaigning and I have absolutely accepted that.

Now it transpires one of his own MPs was campaigning with gang members with a video circulating of Karen Leone in a Labour jacket handing out Labour Party flyers to mobsters.

Te Pāti Māori's Ōreni Kaipara, who appeared with Leone in a Whakaata Māori debate this week, threw a Tamaki Makaurau opponent under the bus during the debate by saying Leone had recently been campaigning with gang members too.

She did it too, miss.

It wasn't just me.

Now it transpires one of his own MPs was campaigning with gang members with a video circulating of Karen Leone in a Labour jacket handing out Labour Party flyers to mobsters.

Te Pāti Māori's Ōreni Kaipara, who appeared with Leone in a Whakaata Māori debate this week, threw a Tamaki Makaurau opponent under the bus during the debate by saying Leone had recently been campaigning with gang members too.

She did it too, miss.

It wasn't just me.

She does not represent the party, was his words.

But, of course, when people for Tamaki Makaurau electorate go in to make those votes, whenever that is over the coming weeks, her name will still be there.

So a very, very confusing and very awkward situation for the Labour Party to be dealing with.

Yeah, currently only had been contesting the details of this, right? So is this Chris Hipkins making a statement, putting his foot down?

He was out campaigning yesterday.

But assurances were sought that were passed on to Chris Hipkins that she had not visited a gang pad.

Now, that was the allegation that was made by Tamaki Makaurau MP, her competition, of course, in that electorate, Oriini Kaipara, the night before yesterday.

In an electorate debate, she said that Leonie had been to the same gang pad that Te Pāti Māori and Green MPs had visited.

Aside from it becoming part of National's campaign attacks toward Labour, it seems to have been dying down.

But it's come up again in a Tāmaki Makaurau electorate debate where Te Pāti Māori's Oriini Kaipara claimed that Labour's candidate, Kieran Leone, had actually visited the same place a week before, something that Kieran Leone outright denied.

Since then, there's been this video circulating.

OK, what is the video? You've seen it? What does it show?

Aside from it becoming part of National's campaign attacks toward Labour, it seems to have been dying down.

But it's come up again in a Tāmaki Makaurau electorate debate where Te Pāti Māori's Oriini Kaipara claimed that Labour's candidate, Kieran Leone, had actually visited the same place a week before, something that Kieran Leone outright denied.

Since then, there's been this video circulating.

OK, what is the video? You've seen it? What does it show?