Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has met with the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand after he called an RNZ staffer a "Muslim terrorist". Photo / Supplied
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has met with the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand after he called an RNZ staffer a "Muslim terrorist". Photo / Supplied
A Muslim advocacy group has described Wayne Brown’s comments to an RNZ staff member as “downright racism” and called on him to respect all communities regardless of their faith or ethnicity.
And the group said the Auckland mayor has agreed to visit a Christchurch mosque targeted in the 2019 terrorattacks to speak to Muslim leaders.
This afternoon, RNZ reported that Brown had made an inappropriate remark to one of its staff members on Monday as he was being escorted into the public broadcaster’s Auckland office.
Responding to the staff member’s comment about security being tight, Brown said “something along the lines of, ‘Security can’t be very tight if we’re being escorted by a Muslim terrorist’,” an RNZ spokesperson said.
The mayor also made a comment about the beard of the staff member, who was of Indian descent.
The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) issued a statement this evening in which chairperson of advocacy Abdur Razzaq said he was “deeply concerned” by reports of Brown’s remark.
Razzaq said FIANZ met with the mayor this afternoon for a “long conversation”, where Brown had “offered his sincere and heartfelt apologies”.
“We related that public officials have a special responsibility after the terror attack on March 15, 2019, to avoid language that normalises or trivialises Islamophobia,” he said.
Thousands of flowers and messages of support were left in tribute to the Christchurch mosque terror attack victims. Photo / Alan Gibson
“Casting aspersions on any minority community because of their looks and their clothes is downright racism. It reinforces precisely the kind of Islamophobic stereotype that the Royal Commission warned New Zealand must confront.”
Razzaq said FIANZ had invited the mayor to visit Masjid Annur mosque in Christchurch and Muslim community elders in Auckland, an offer he had accepted.
The group said public leadership was “central to keeping all New Zealanders safe”, citing the findings of the Royal Commission.
“We hope the mayor’s apology will be accompanied by genuine reflection and a commitment to public leadership that respects all communities regardless of their faith or ethnicity.”
Razzaq acknowledged Brown had already apologised to the man by email, in which he called the remark a “joke”.
