It’s unclear whether Green MP Benjamin Doyle will return to Parliament in the next few days, having spent the past week elsewhere following what the party called an “immense” number of death threats against them and their whānau.
Doyle hasn’t been at Parliament since social media posts they shared to a private Instagram account – called “biblebeltbussy” – prior to becoming an MP resurfaced and began circulating widely online.
Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick last Monday said Doyle would be away from Parliament as the party grappled with “real-world threats” against the MP in the aftermath of the heightened attention.
The party on Sunday told the Herald there was no update at this stage on whether Doyle would return to Parliament this coming week. It is the final sitting week before Parliament goes into recess until early May.
The Greens have been working with parliamentary security regarding the MP’s safety and are unlikely to want to publicise their whereabouts days in advance if those threats are continuing.
Doyle, who uses they/them pronouns, entered Parliament in 2024 following the ousting of Darleen Tana. Previously a Hamilton high school teacher, they are now the party’s early childhood education spokesperson.
Among several posts of Doyle’s that received attention was an image of them and their child which was contained within an Instagram carousel of various images of a family event - that carousel was captioned with the phrase “bussy galore”. Bussy is a portmanteau of “boy” and “pussy” and is slang used by some to refer to a male’s anus.
The appropriateness of the posts has been questioned by some, including Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who has said they need investigating. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the term used was “inappropriate”, but believed it was a matter for the Greens to deal with.
Doyle is yet to speak to media about why they used such a caption, the context behind it, and the impact the scrutiny on the posts has had.
But Swarbrick responded to criticisms this week by saying members of minority communities, like the rainbow community, were “accustomed to using and co-opting terms that may not be well understood by external groups, often times with irreverence and absurdity”.
She said that “context is critical” and when asked by reporters what that context was, said: “Benjamin had a title of a private account which was related to terminology that is used within the queer community”.
“There are a number of far-right conspiratorial actors who are imputing meaning to that and the long bow that they seem to be drawing is that by virtue of use of that terminology that the rainbow community poses a real-world threat to children.”
As the Herald has reported, one source who knows Doyle said “bussy galore” was not a caption for a single image, but for a selection of family photos posted to Instagram. The source said “bussy” refers to Doyle themself and that the caption therefore referred to multiple photos of Doyle.
The Greens have been critical of Peters for “fanning the flames of hatred” by highlighting the posts to his social media followers, but the New Zealand First leader said all he had done was say the posts were not appropriate and questions needed to be asked.
“I didn’t make the posts, [Doyle] did. This is identity politics at its worst. This is virtue signalling at its worst ... This is not an anti-rainbow thing,” he said on Monday.
Peters also said members of the rainbow community had taken issue with Doyle’s comment and the suggestion from the Greens that the term was often used among members of the community.
He said there was no excuse for death threats against Doyle but denied he or his party was responsible.
Speaking in Parliament’s general debate on Wednesday, Peters claimed there would be an “investigation” into Doyle “when he turns up back here”, using the incorrect pronoun for the MP.
“Our pronouns begin with T and V, they’re truth and verity, that’s what we’re going to have here ... our conclusion is very, very clear: the public have a right to know who and what they’re voting for, and very shortly they will.”
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office.