Te Atatū MP Phil Twyford says he believes a large pile of rubbish dumped at the door to his electorate office is related to his recent criticism of Destiny Church.
The Labour MP shared a photo of the pile of rubbish outside his office in Henderson this afternoon.
“I’ve been speaking out in recent days on Destiny’s violent behaviour at the Te Atatū Peninsula Community Centre, and while I’ve had loads of positive feedback, clearly someone is not happy by the look of this load of rubbish dumped outside my office door in Henderson this morning,” he said in a post to his Facebook page,” he wrote.
“BTW it won’t stop me doing my job.”
Controversy is swirling around the church after its Man Up and Legacy groups stormed Auckland’s Te Atatū Community Centre and library earlier this month to protest a children’s science show hosted by a drag king.
Around 30 young children and adults were barricaded inside during the incident, with a teenager saying she saw young people “pushed to the ground and punched”.
Police “strongly condemned” the protest and confirmed it was investigating allegations of assault.
A photograph of the rubbish, posted by Twyford, shows large shards of broken glass, discarded clothing and empty takeaway containers in front of the doors to his Henderson office.
Destiny Church told the NZ Herald it had “no knowledge” of such an event.
“Our people aren’t like that,” a spokesperson said.
Brian Tamaki’s wife Hannah said: “What a load of rubbish this guy is talking, get the footage then apologise to Destiny Church.”
Twyford wrote to the charities regulator last week asking that Destiny Church be struck off, alleging it had engaged in wrongdoing.
“Destiny’s actions were certainly oppressive, which meets the definition of wrongdoing in the law, and so they should lose their tax-deductible status,” Twyford said.
“Destiny is in breach of the Charities Act. This organisation should not be receiving a cent of public subsidy through tax deductibility nor the stamp of approval that registration as a charity implies.”
He said “numerous electoral representatives” and the police believed Destiny’s actions “crossed the line”.
“People that were going about their lawful business, parents with very young children… were brutalised and exposed to violent and intimidating harassment.”
Twyford said the leadership of the church had also “maliciously and wrongly equated that event at the Te Atatū Peninsula Community Centre with pornography and child abuse”.
“The same people went on that night to disrupt the Pride Parade. This is a campaign of hate against a section of our community.
“I think that most New Zealanders would agree this kind of behaviour is beyond the pale.”
Destiny Church previously told 1News it was “not concerned” about “threats” to remove its charitable status.
