Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Families meet in reconciliation meeting over racist voicemail left by Tauranga car salesmen

Sandra Conchie
By Sandra Conchie
Multimedia Journalist, Bay of Plenty Times·Bay of Plenty Times·
18 Jun, 2018 05:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Mike Farmer, the managing director of Farmer Auto Village, and his family met with Narelle Newdick, pictured, and her whanau at a reconciliation hui in Te Puke on Friday.

Mike Farmer, the managing director of Farmer Auto Village, and his family met with Narelle Newdick, pictured, and her whanau at a reconciliation hui in Te Puke on Friday.

A reconciliation meeting has been held between a Maketu nurse and the owners of Tauranga car dealership after a salesman accidentally left a racist message on her voicemail.

Mike Farmer, the managing director of Farmer Auto Village, and his family met with
Narelle Newdick and her whanau at a reconciliation hui
in Te Puke on Friday.

Farmer's formal apology to Newdick aired on TVNZ1's Marae programme on Sunday morning.

Read more: Tauranga car salesmen stood down over racist comments
Letters to the editor: 'Racist' voicemail shows common Pākehā mindset

Newdick had visited the Farmer Auto Village with the hope of buying a car until she discovered a message a staff member accidentally left on her phone.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

At the hui, Farmer told Newdick that Tauranga Farmers Autovilllage "sincerely and unreservedly apologises for the hurt and distress caused to her and her whanau by the inappropriate comments made by two of our staff members".

Newdick told Marae there was a still a lot of anger and hurt, particularly regarding the part of the message that described her as a "f.....clever Maori".

"I was offended not only for myself but he has lumped us all into that box," she said during the Marae interview.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Farmer said without question the previous week had been the hardest week he and the company had ever experienced.

Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services Trust executive director Tommy Wilson said the Farmer family had asked if he would help facilitate the reconciliation meeting

Wilson said Tauranga Farmers Auto Village had been a long-time supporter of the trust.

He said the incident did not reflect the wider culture of the company.

Discover more

New Zealand

Car salesmen stood down over racist comments

12 Jun 11:34 PM

Letters: No such thing as casual racism

21 Jun 04:00 PM

The Farmer family had asked for forgiveness from Newdick, "and the reconciliation has begun", Wilson said.

Newdick said she accepted the apology and bore no ill will towards the rest of the team at Farmer Auto Village.

She also urged people to speak out about racism or sexism in the community.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Frustrated locals' vandalise city-centre parking machines

Bay of Plenty Times

'Property hoarder' selling derelict cottage with no plumbing

Bay of Plenty Times

Watch: Man appears to smoke meth on public bus, sparking outrage


Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Frustrated locals' vandalise city-centre parking machines
Bay of Plenty Times

'Frustrated locals' vandalise city-centre parking machines

The damage will cost thousands to fix.

15 Aug 08:34 PM
'Property hoarder' selling derelict cottage with no plumbing
Bay of Plenty Times

'Property hoarder' selling derelict cottage with no plumbing

15 Aug 08:13 AM
Watch: Man appears to smoke meth on public bus, sparking outrage
Bay of Plenty Times

Watch: Man appears to smoke meth on public bus, sparking outrage

15 Aug 05:00 AM


Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet
Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

10 Aug 09:12 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP