New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was put on the spot during a press conference when he was asked by Sean Plunket, the founder of news outlet The Platform, to define what a ‘woman’ is.
Plunket referred to British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer’s recent statement that “99.9% of women don’t have penises” and mentioned feminist activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, known as Posie Parker, and her controversial views on the transgender community.
Hipkins initially seemed unsure how to respond, stating that the question had come “slightly out of left field” for him.
He eventually stated that people define their own genders.
Plunket pressed him further on Parker’s views, which Hipkins described as “abhorrent” in relation to her sentiment towards the transgender community.
A rally organized by Parker in Auckland was met with violent protests from trans-rights activists, leading to Parker being doused in tomato juice and rushed out of the park by security for her own safety.
The event resulted in Parker canceling a planned rally in Wellington and returning home.
Plunket demanded an apology from Hipkins, whom he called a “gutless coward.”
Following the incident, Plunket was permanently suspended from Twitter.
The Platform’s Twitter account announced the ban, with Plunket joking on his Facebook page that it was “another victory for free speech.”
Plunket speculated that the ban was due to complaints from what he referred to as the “anti-women brigade” who had protested Parker’s events.
Hipkins condemned the violence that occurred at Parker’s rally, stating that “the right to free speech does not extend to the right to physical violence.”
However, he did not specifically condemn any bad actors.
Parker has vowed to return to New Zealand, tweeting that “we are going to win this war, women.”
