The ACT Party is not ruling out accepting further money from an Invercargill businessman, despite labelling his comments about Maori as offensive.
Louis Crimp - who donated $100,000 to the party last year - told a newspaper that Maori are full of crime, and that some New Zealanders dislike them intensely, but do not like to say so.
Maori are making the country poor, with the cost of welfare and supporting the Maori language, The New Zealand Herald reports him as saying.
"All the white New Zealanders I've spoken to don't like the Maoris, the way they are full of crime and welfare," he says in the newspaper.
ACT president Chris Simmons says the party has always stood for one law for all but Mr Crimps' views go way beyond that, and ACT does not condone his statements.
"They're extreme and they don't represent ACT Party views at all," he says.
Asked whether ACT will accept further donations from Mr Crimp, Mr Simmons is non-committal.
"That's a very hypothetical question," he says. "That would be a decision for the board at such a time as we were talking to Mr Crimp in the future.
ACT leader John Banks has not returned calls from Radio New Zealand.
The ACT Party is distancing itself from controversial statements about Maori by one of its major donors.
The ACT Party is distancing itself from controversial statements about Maori by one of its major donors.
In an interview with The New Zealand Herald, Invercargill businessman Louis Crimp is reported as saying that most New Zealanders dislike Maori intensely, but do not like to say so.
Mr Crimp donated more than $100,000 to the ACT Party last year.
The Herald quotes him saying Maori are making the country poor, with the cost of welfare and supporting the Maori language.
"All the white New Zealanders I've spoken to don't like the Maoris, the way they are full of crime and welfare."
ACT president Chris Simmons says the party has always stood for one law for all but Mr Crimps' views go way beyond that, and ACT does not condone his statements.
Neither Mr Crimp nor ACT leader John Banks have been available for comment.
