Tweet ‘like she doesn’t care’
Disability Issues Minister Nicky Wagner stirs up controversy with her ‘slip of the finger’
Labour leader Andrew Little is stunned by a tweet by Disability Issues Minister Nicky Wagner and says it looks as if “she doesn’t really care”. Wagner posted on Twitter last week that she’d rather be out on Auckland harbour than in disability meetings.
After Special Educational Needs NZ posted its disgust on Facebook, the tweet gained more attention and Wagner yesterday apologised for any offence.
In Auckland to open the Waterview tunnel, Prime Minister Bill English said Wagner had made a mistake, but was a strong advocate for the disability community. “No one would believe that Nicky Wagner set out to be offensive to people with disabilities,” English said.
Little said he was “frankly stunned”.
“It is just so at odds with the way she should be discharging her responsibility it, frankly, beggars belief.”
Labour has previously attacked Wagner after she criticised Idea Services over a contract dispute in April, saying the operational arm of IHC New Zealand had been “totally irresponsible” and let down vulnerable clients.
Little said those comments combined with the tweet made it look as if Wagner “doesn’t really care about disability issues, like she’s just going through the motions”.
Wagner told the Herald she had made a silly tweet with “a slip of the finger” but explained she didn’t mean she didn’t want to be at her meetings.
“We just thought, ‘ Wouldn’t it be good to have our meeting on the harbour?’
“I was surprised [by the reaction], it was a very innocent tweet. It was a beautiful day outside and we were inside.”
Wagner said she would not delete for fear of making it look worse. Otherwise she said she had a fantastic day meeting the Murray Halberg Trust, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner, the New Zealand Artificial Limb Service and EMA on disability issues.