‘Talkback army’ not like online attacks, Martin says
NEW Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Tracey Martin, who has likened politically motivated online trolling to bullying, used to organise the party’s campaign to influence talkback radio listeners.
But she said that was ‘‘completely different’’ from personal attacks on politicians organised by political parties.
Earlier this week, Ms Martin told a Netsafe audience about seeing a National Party MP — who she did not name — directing people to attack then Labour leader Andrew Little during the 2017 election campaign.
She said it was similar to bullying.
‘‘I don’t think it’s reasonable or appropriate behaviour for any adult to be creating a group of others to specifically target a single individual. If a young person did that, we’d all be calling it bullying,’’ Ms Martin said after her Netsafe speech.
Ms Martin, who became an MP in 2011, said she ‘‘wouldn’t be surprised’’ if the Labour Party used similar tactics to sway voters, but NZ First did not have the numbers to ‘‘run a game like that’’.
The closest thing would be the ‘‘talkback army’’ that Ms Martin used to organise in the 2011 campaign.
‘‘We used to get people to ring up talkback and raise policy issues that we had policy on,’’ Ms Martin said.
She clarified through a spokesman yesterday that the talkback army was about making sure party supporters were well informed about policy and had a voice in the debate.
It was ‘‘standard practice’’ for most parties and ‘‘completely different to personal attacks’’, the spokesman said.
An email about the talkback army, published on rightleaning website Kiwiblog, said: ‘‘A select group of New Zealand First members will be continually updated by email with policy positions and topical information that they can use to keep the radiolistening public of New Zealand well informed.
‘‘Play your part in the 2011 election campaign. Join our talkback army.’’
The spokesman added that Ms Martin’s speech to Netsafe was about good and bad behaviour on the internet, and was not aimed at scoring political points.
Ms Martin believed that online trolling was behaviour that noone should be subjected to, the spokesman said.