Green MP Benjamin Doyle faces ‘immense’ death threats over social media content, Christopher Luxon calls remarks ‘inappropriate’, Winston Peters says Doyle should be investigated

• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says language from Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle on social media was “inappropriate”.
• The controversy involves Doyle’s social media posts using queer community language, sparking debate.
• Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has shared social media posts raising questions about the language.

The Prime Minister has called social media comments from Green MP Benjamin Doyle “inappropriate”, but believed any threats of violence were “totally unacceptable”.

Christopher Luxon said scrutiny of remarks made on social media were “the reality of political life” and didn’t express any concern about his deputy, Winston Peters, raising questions about some made by Doyle.

The Greens’ co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, however, said “context is critical” and some language used by minority groups may not be well understood by others.

Doyle, who uses they/them pronouns, has an Instagram account under the name “Biblebeltbussy”. The profile is private and notes in its biography that it is “on hiatus”.

According to screenshots posted to social media in recent days, the account posted a photo of Doyle and a child with the caption: “bussy galore”. The date of the post is October 2023, predating Doyle becoming an MP late last year after the Greens removed Darleen Tana.

The word “bussy” is slang used by some members of the queer community and is commonly understood to refer to a male’s anus.

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Peters has been among those posting on social media about the topic, questioning the appropriateness of the post, “in particular using that language and innuendo with the nature of the pictures he posted”.

“We are not accusing him of anything. If the police want to investigate, they can,” he said.

The Greens’ Swarbrick said 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, oftentimes with irreverence and absurdity”.

“The central conspiracy here is that the use of such a word on a private account by an MP, before they were an MP, is inherently suspicious,” she said.

Swarbrick said the party had been screening “immense numbers of death threats and abuse” directed at Doyle and their child and was critical of Peters amplifying questions about the posts.

“The Deputy Prime Minister has decided to double down on disinformation, fanning the flames of hatred towards the rainbow community that we have recently seen can lead to real world violence,” she said.

Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick address media about MP Benjamin Doyle. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Later at a press conference, Swarbrick was pushed on whether the language used alongside an image of a child was appropriate.

“What we’re talking about here is a member of the queer community using language that is absurd and irreverent and oftentimes used within the queer community. Context is critical.”

She said some words “are used in different ways by different people” and the context to this situation was “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.”

Doyle won’t be at Parliament this week, Swarbrick said, as they and their whānau were grappling with “real-world threats”.

Questioned about the Greens’ response, Peters said all he had said was that the posts “are inappropriate” and questions needed to be asked. He said he was aware of members of the rainbow community that had taken issue with Doyle’s comments.

“I didn’t make the posts, [Doyle] did. This is identity politics at its worst. This is virtue signaling at its worst ... This is not an anti-rainbow thing.”

Peters said there was no excuse for death threats against Doyle, but denied he or his party was responsible. He also accepted he didn’t know the child pictured in Doyle’s post was their child when he made online comments.

Swarbrick said she got in touch with the Prime Minister directly on Saturday about the matter and was calling on him to “shut down this behaviour”.

Asked about that on Monday afternoon, Luxon responded: “Any threats of violence, death threats, or otherwise is totally unacceptable on MPs or frankly any New Zealander.”

“I think accountability lies with those that are making those threats,” the Prime Minister said.

He believed the language used by Doyle “was really inappropriate”.

“In the scrutiny and the reality of political life, our social media language is scrutinised by the media. It’s also scrutinised by fellow politicians and also the public. Ultimately, that is a case for the Greens’ leadership to deal with.”

Luxon said he was reacting to the language and hadn’t seen the posts themselves.

The furore erupted publicly on the International Transgender Day of Visibility. Asked if he believed all members of his coalition supported the transgender community, Luxon said “we support all New Zealanders”.

“I work incredibly hard to make sure that whether you’re transgender or non-transgender that we build a better economy for you, you feel safe, and you get better health and better education,” he said.

Peters wouldn’t use the correct pronouns for Doyle on Monday. Asked about that, Luxon said, “I don’t actually care what pronouns people use.”

“What they use for themselves is up to them. What I am here to do is focus on some pretty bigger things.”

According to a Green Party profile page from 2023, Doyle described themself as “a pāpā, a teacher, a researcher, and a community organiser”.

“I am also proudly takatāpui [gay] and whaikaha [a disabled person]. For nearly 10 years I have taught and lead [sic] in secondary schools in both Tāmaki Makaurau [Auckland] and Kirikiriroa [Hamilton] with a focus on rangatahi Māori achieving equitable educational outcomes,” Doyle said in the profile.