Ethnic leaders support Simon Bridges over Jami-Lee Ross recording

National Party leader Simon Bridges has hit back at Jami-Lee Ross' allegations and says he has been defamed. Photo / File

Leaders of Tauranga ethnic groups have backed Simon Bridges over a recording in which he discussed the political implications of having Chinese MPs in the National Party.

Local Chinese, Indian and Multicultural Tauranga community representatives rejected suggestions that Bridges' comments could have been taken as a racist slur.

Ousted National MP Jami-Lee Ross Wednesday released a recording of a conservation from a few months ago between himself and Bridges about a $100,000 donation, allegedly from Chinese businessman Yikun Zhang.

Ross, who has lodged a complaint with police, claimed Bridges asked for the donation to be split into smaller amounts to hide that it came from one source.

Ross labelled Bridges a "corrupt politician" who had committed election fraud.

In the taped conservation, Bridges told Ross having two Chinese Members of Parliament would be nice, but putting them on the list and keeping everyone happy would be "bloody hard".

Ross replies that "two Chinese would be better than two Indians".

Bridges agreed but said adding two Chinese would create a "s*** fight" with sitting MPs, and then talked about cutting some list MPs to make way for the new ones.

Tauranga Gurdwara Sikh Sangat Temple president Puran Singh told the Bay of Plenty Times that Bridges was a victim of "dirty politics".

"I have known Simon very well for many years and he has been to our temple several times including attending our annual birthday celebrations," he said.

"Simon is always very happy to listen to us and he has always been very helpful in all our dealings with him. He does a lot of good work for the Indian community.

"I think the focus of what's on the released tape is all part of a dirty politics campaign by Jami-Lee Ross."

Singh said he did not believe Bridges' comments on the recording were racist.

"I'm a very strong supporter of Simon and back him 200 per cent. He also has the strong support of many people in the Indian community, not just National Party supporters."

Candy Yan, the president of the Bay of Plenty Chinese Business and Commerce Association, said she had met with Bridges many times in the last 16 years.

Yan said Bridges had always been "very supportive" to the Chinese community and did not think he was bigoted or racist.

Multicultural Tauranga president Ann Kerewaro also backed Bridges.

"I don't think what Simon Bridges says on the tape is a racial slur. I really hope it is not taken that way, but I am not Chinese or Indian," she said.

"I think we can all be too precious about a lot of things and people should be able to speak freely without fear of their conversations being taped and used against them."