Wellington Mayor Andy Foster distances himself from candidate who claims Covid vaccine is dangerous

Wellington Mayor Andy Foster. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Wellington Mayor Andy Foster has distanced himself from a fellow election contender, who claimed the Covid-19 vaccine was "very unsafe", after she appeared at a meeting for those running on the same ticket as the incumbent.

Foster is running on a ticket called "Together for Wellington", although it doesn't exactly appear to be going to plan.

Advertising previously circulated online suggested Foster's current deputy mayor Sarah Free was also running on the ticket, but Free confirmed she was in fact not.

The group has since been criticised for its lack of diversity, with all six candidates being men.

New advertising, removing Free, promoted a meeting to get to know the "Together for Wellington" candidates last weekend in Johnsonville.

A photo, seen by the Herald, shows mayoral candidate Barbara McKenzie also attended the meeting and was seated at the front of the room with the candidates.

McKenzie's online blog reveals she has claimed the Covid-19 vaccine is "very unsafe".

She has also defended the Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol and spoke favourably about the occupation at Parliament earlier this year.

But Foster said he was not "aligning himself remotely with her" and she wasn't on any ticket.

Asked why McKenzie was at the meeting, he said she must have heard about it and decided to show up.

"I did not know she was going to be there at all.

"I don't know all her views. I have heard and seen some coverage of her views and I don't agree with them."

McKenzie told the Herald she heard about the meeting "through the grapevine" and was curious.

"They very kindly offered me a chance to speak. Given that they don't have an agreed set of policies, there is nothing to be aligned with. I gather that this is a group, all independents, that has been meeting for a while."

Foster stressed he only attended the meeting for about 10 minutes to say a few words, after being reluctant to show up in the first place.

He said he didn't want to attend the event after concerns were raised about a lack of gender diversity.

"I'm not going to be part of an event that doesn't allow for that."

Foster said he was only persuaded to go after another candidate said people were expecting him.

He also clarified just three people officially had the banner "Together for Wellington" on their candidate profiles. This included himself, northern ward candidate Raveen Annamalai, and southern ward candidate Dipak Bhana.

Foster said others listed on the advertisement promoting the meeting were people they had been talking to.

"It's not really about a ticket anyway, it never was.

"It was about saying, hey what we want to do is to try and get a group of people who actually want to work collaboratively together."

Asked whether the ticket was falling apart, Foster said he was taking a step back and pivoting.

He said he would continue working collaboratively with people in an "independent fashion".