National Party leader Christopher Luxon has encouraged Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson to apologise to the people she offended with her comments — white cisgender men.
Asked if Davidson should resign, Luxon said she would not be a minister in his government.
The Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Minister has been under fire after she made comments to far-right website Counterspin on Saturday that "white cis men" were the main perpetrators of violence in the world.
"Cis" is short for cisgender, which means the opposite of transgender. The term relates to a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex assigned at birth.
Yesterday, Davidson walked back her comments, saying they lacked clarity and that she had just been hit by a motorcycle before making them.
On Tuesday, Luxon said Davidson's comments were "incredibly harmful, a generalisation of an entire group of people".
"They were wrong, they were offensive, what I haven't heard from her or Chris Hipkins yesterday is an apology and I think they should do that.
"She should do it publicly and she should do it to the people that she hurt."
Asked if she should apologise to white men, he said: "She should make a public apology about it."
Asked if he saw any irony in him asking her to apologise to white men, he said it was "a group she caused offense to".
Some are now calling for the Green's co-leader to resign, Political Editor Jessica Mutch McKay reports. (Source: 1News)
Papakura MP Judith Collins said Davidson was "wrong, racist and actually really divisive".
Asked why she said racist, Collins said "I think it's pretty clear... because they were".
"[Chris Hipkins] seems as weak as Ardern was on these matters.
"It's a very serious issue. He didn't actually even speak to [Davidson], he spoke to her co-leader [James Shaw]. What, was he more comfortable talking to another white male?"
National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis said she believed Davidson should apologise for her comments.
"She has skirted around that point. She's... saying there were mitigating circumstances as she'd been hit by a motorcycle — well do the right thing — apologise.
"I don't think she should have brought race into it."
Asked if Willis believed Davidson should resign, Willis said: "she shouldn't be a minister if she's going to make sweeping statements like that".
"[National] would never have appointed her a minister. She's behaved in a way that's inappropriate. It's actually driving division when it's her job to actually be reducing violence. She's certainly not doing that."
Earlier, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he had spoken with Davidson on Tuesday morning.
"Marama obviously regrets the situation and how it unfolded. She's apologised for the comments that she made, she'd already issued a correcting statement... she's elaborated further on that today."
He said specifically she regretted singling out a race in her comments.
"Given the circumstances, I think people make mistakes.
"I'm not going to ask for a resignation every time someone makes a mistake... or says something that turns out to be incorrect."
Hipkins said he understood Davidson was "holding up OK" after being hit by the motorcycle but the pain and bruising was starting to materialise.
He said he believed Davidson had done "fantastic work" on the prevention of domestic and family violence.
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta said people had to realise Davidson had just been hit by a motorcycle and was "probably under a level of stress and high emotion".
Asked if it was ever appropriate to bring ethnicity into the debate, Mahuta said she had been "on the other end of that".
"I know it's inappropriate."
Davidson responds
Davidson said she had clarified what she had intended to say.
"[I] particularly affirm and acknowledge victims and survivors who may not have seen themselves in my comments."
Asked if she would apologise to white cisgender men, as Luxon had suggested, Davidson repeated she had clarified her comments.
"There is some misinformation about who is a risk to women and particularly their aim at trans people which is simply not true."
"I acknowledge I should have been clearer in my words. I normally take incredible care. I understand the importance of my language in my work."
She said the whole morning was "charged" although there was "beauty and love and solidarity" for transgender people in the protest against Posie Parker.
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