Editorial: Cut the gutter politics

Labour's Steven Gibson called John Key "Shonky Johnkey Shylock" in a Facebook post. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Memo to certain politicians and their supporters - get out of the gutter.

There are fewer than six weeks until the general election and this campaign is being blown off course by unhelpful race-related barbs and personal attacks.

The focus should be on policies, important issues, and who is best to lead our country. I'm all for a bit of cut and thrust, some quirk and humour, and the odd bit of scandal thrown in. But we are instead being subjected to a pile of trash.

I'll start with Prime Minister John Key. His description of Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom as party leader Laila Harre's sugar-daddy was uncalled for and unbecoming of a leader.

Next is New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, whose "two wongs don't make a wight" joke was lame, inappropriate and potentially offensive to Chinese people. Winston is better than this and should apologise.

And what was going through the mind of Labour's Steven Gibson when he used a racially loaded term in relation to Prime Minister John Key, who has Jewish heritage?

Mr Gibson, the Rangitata candidate, called Mr Key "Shonky Johnkey Shylock" in a Facebook post - a reference to the Venetian Jewish money lender in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and widely seen as a crude racial stereotype.

Mr Gibson later apologised and took down the post, saying he was not aware of the racial overtones in his comment. So what was the point of putting it up then?

Labour leader David Cunliffe gave his candidate a final warning, saying the post was "incredibly bad judgment". Mr Cunliffe should have axed him.

The Facebook gaffe comes as a video of Mr Key being burned in effigy appears to have been posted on a Facebook page which features defaced National hoardings. The burning effigy is another unseemly development in New Zealand politics.

But I've saved the worst for last. The Internet-Mana video that included footage of Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom joining in with a frenzied crowd chant of F*** John Key is sickening and makes me think of Nazis.

The Internet-Mana Party should be ashamed - the Prime Minister deserves more respect. This disgusting behaviour has no place in New Zealand.