Professor Joanna Kidman. (Photo: Grant Maiden)
The Act Party is demanding the dismissal of the director of an anti-extremism centre for her own extreme remarks.
Dr. Joanna Kidman, Director of the Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism, labelled the Government as a ‘death cult’ that ‘hates children’.
These statements arose following David Seymour’s proposal to cut costs in the school lunch programme and Karen Chhour’s initiative to reform young serious offenders through military-style academies.
Kidman was appointed by Jacinda Ardern when she established the Centre ‘to fund independent New Zealand-specific research on the causes of, and measures to prevent, violent extremism and terrorism’.
ACT Public Service spokesman Todd Stephenson said “the irony of an anti-extremism campaigner using such extreme rhetoric should be obvious. The call is coming from inside the building.
“While ACT supports her right to spew deranged garbage as a private citizen, she shouldn’t be doing it on the taxpayer dollar, and certainly not with the borrowed credibility of the Prime Minister’s department.
“Dr Kidman’s salary is paid by taxpayers via the Prime Minister’s department, which means Christopher Luxon has just been delivered some potential savings on a silver platter. The board of the Centre must move immediately to sack the extremist in their midst.”
File
Kidman is no stranger to inflammatory comments. In fact, her appointment to the centre was once described as “problematic” and “disturbing” by left leaning political commentators.
In 2020, she accused fashion designer Trelise Cooper of perpetrating “colonial violence in floral polyester” after she named one of her dresses “Trail of Tiers.” Trail of Tears, was a series of forced death marches Native American tribes were sent on by the US Government between 1830-1850.
Kidman slammed Cooper on Twitter. “Accounts of Native women being raped by settlers and soldiers on the Trail of Tears and the Long Walk of the Navajo don’t translate well into a fashion statement… but hey, Trelise Cooper, guess you’re making a living, right?” Cooper swiftly apologised.
