No party is safe as Labour, National, and New Conservative see hoardings vandalised
Dozens of election hoardings have been vandalised overnight and no party is safe, with Labour, National, and New Conservative candidates reporting damage to their billboards. Its proven costly for some candidates who have already replaced several billboards. Labours Northcote candidate Shanan Halbert had 10 billboards damaged overnight. One hoarding had profanities written on it and because it was directly across the road from a school, it had to be replaced immediately. They cost about $30 to replace. READ MORE: * New Plymouth Labour candidate first out of the starter blocks * Vandalism of navigation lights at Timaru port put lives at risk * Vandalism slows train services for passengers travelling the Johnsonville line, Wellington Some have used the c word, theyve written it across one of the billboards and that level of abuse is very unfair for any candidate, Halbert said. I know people like to blame the younger generation for these types of attacks but I believe these attacks are done by older, mature adults because theyve used specific words, like w....r and communist. If people dont believe in what I stand for, they are very welcome to campaign themselves, there is really no need to vandalise [hoardings]. I have reported the vandalism to police on 105, but they have more important things to do to be fair and in these cases, our community has been calling me to report any vandalism that they see. At the intersection of Rosebank Road and Ash Street, near the Avondale Racecourse, New Conservative Leader Leighton Baker had swastikas added to his billboards. And in Lower Hutt, Nationals Chris Bishop also had his electoral billboards vandalised. Gutting to see some d...heads do this to our signs not even 24 hours after they were put up. Of course every other partys signs were left totally intact, Bishop posted on social media. But its not all insults and graffiti. Some disgruntled members of the public were responsible for sophisticated vandalism to billboards. Labour candidate Shirin Brown had a sticker with the words backwards added to her slogan. It has since been removed but the effort in which the vandals made was concerning, Brown said. Its the same colouring and a similar font and at first I didnt pick up on it but a Green Party member called me and told me. The fact theyve systematically invested in a sticker is not only malicious, its little weird.