New Genter allegation surfaces
Wellington city business owner claims Julie Anne Genter grabbed her
Anew allegation has been levelled against Green MP Julie Anne Genter, with a Wellington businesswoman claiming the politician grabbed her arm during an exchange about a controversial plan to ban cars from the heart of the city.
It comes after Four Seasons Florist owner Laura Newcombe revealed Genter filmed her during a confrontation about cycleways that she felt was “like something out of Police Ten 7”.
Genter has been working from home following an incident in Parliament’s debating chamber on Wednesday night, where she crossed the floor and waved a book in the face of National minister Matt Doocey after he commented on Labour cancelling roads.
The incident drew several privileges complaints, with Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chloe Swarbrick calling the behaviour “completely unacceptable”.
Now, Cranfields owner Nicola Cranfield has alleged she experienced her own “upsetting” experience with Genter.
Cranfield claimed she saw Genter in Wellington’s Midland Park sometime between the end of last year’s general election and Christmas.
Cranfield said she had always been curious about a letter Genter may have written in her capacity as associate transport minister to former Wellington mayor Justin Lester that led to a plan to remove private vehicles from the city’s Golden Mile.
Cranfield approached Genter and proceeded to ask about the letter.
“She bristled and got really defensive,” Cranfield said. “She said, ‘I’m no longer in power, I’m in the Opposition’, and she really washed her hands of any responsibility.”
Cranfield pushed for an answer again, saying the planned transport changes had negatively affected her retail business.
Genter repeated herself, grabbed Cranfield’s upper arm, and gave it a little shake, Cranfield alleged.
Cranfield said, in her view, it “wasn’t a friendly squeeze” and believed it was aimed to make her feel that Genter was in a “position of power”.
Cranfield pulled away and could not recall if Genter said anything else.
“I was pretty upset and didn’t know what to do or say. I was just not expecting her to lay a hand on me. It was just very odd to be grabbed by a politician.”
Asked about Cranfield’s claims, a Green Party spokesperson said the co-leaders had no prior knowledge of the allegations regarding Genter which have recently come to light.
“They had already taken disciplinary action after Wednesday’s incident in Parliament, which was clearly unacceptable and fell short of the high standards the Green Party expects of its MPs.
“As part of the disciplinary action, Julie Anne will be receiving professional and personal support to ensure incidents of this nature never happen again.”
Genter herself did not respond to a separate request for comment.
Cranfield said she did not take the matter further at the time as she was busy running her business.
“I just thought maybe she [Genter] had a really bad day and sort of tried to brush it aside.
“It really just came back this week when I saw her behaviour in other situations and I realised it obviously wasn’t a one-off isolated incident.”
Last month Cranfield revealed she is closing her store after 33 years, saying she doesn’t want to spend any more time fighting her own council over the Golden Mile plan.