Labour complainants say party president let them down

Mr Haworth issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon, doubling down on his position that the party was not told about the sexual nature of the allegations.

"The serious allegation of a sexual assault, outlined in The Spinoff article and in other media, was not provided to the President and Acting General Secretary at a meeting in the Wellington Central Library or subsequently to the Labour Party Investigation Panel.

[...]

The sole male complainant spoke to Checkpoint on Tuesday, describing the complaints process as "deeply re-traumatizing".

"It was horrific. The whole thing felt like it was orchestrated to protect [the Labour staffer] and his image. And the power imbalance was huge. It was clear that the party had no idea what it was doing."

[...]

The complainant said several of the alleged survivors discovered that aspects of their testimony had been omitted in written transcripts given to them after the investigation had concluded.

"I discussed the fact that there was a degree of sexual abuse and sexual assault behaviour by this individual... and also general culture within the Labour Party of rape culture.

"Those things were discussed - and on review of the transcript from my interview, that was not recorded."

He said he thought it was plausible that Ms Ardern was not aware of the seriousness of the allegations and would like the opportunity to meet with her one-on-one.

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