Complaints Against NZ Media For Calling Posie Parker Anti-Trans And Citing Neo-Nazi Support Dismissed

Media was not wrong in describing Kellie-Jay Keen aka Posie Parker as “anti-trans” or that neo-Nazis supported her in Melbourne, New Zealand’s media watchdog has held. 

The Media Council and the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) dismissed a slew of petitions filed by Keen’s supporters. 

The complaints claimed calling Keen an “anti-trans activist” was defamatory and she was a “women’s rights campaigner”. The complaints also objected to media reports that said neo-Nazis had supported her and a minister was quoted satingKeen courted the far-right. 

The BSA said that the descriptors “anti-trans”, and “trans-exclusionary” were an “accurate characterisation of her publicly-expressed views”.

“It is not unfair or inaccurate to describe Parker as an ‘anti-trans’ activist, based on her rhetoric toward transgender people and issues, and particularly statements denying the very existence of transgender and gender-diverse people,” the authority said. 

Neo-Nazis At Melbourne Anti-Trans Rally

The authority further said that it was a fact that neo-Nazis attended the British anti-trans campaigner’s Melbourne rally in March 2023 and performed the Nazi salute outside Victorian Parliament. 

The authority said that it was open for the media to describe that neo-Nazis supported Keen. “They (neo-Nazi members of the National Socialist Network) were clearly not counter‑protesters, and they carried large anti-trans signage, indicating support of, or alignment with, Parker’s anti-trans rhetoric. Largely, their presence and actions at the Melbourne event were stated as fact, demonstrated in the accompanying footage for viewers to see for themselves.”

The media reports that people “doing Nazi salutes” at Keen’s previous events, the authority said, “was a statement of fact, supported by footage, regarding people at a previous event that could not be said to leave viewers with an unfairly negative impression of Parker”.

Police Minister Ginny Andersen’s statement  Keen ‘does court the far right,’ was “her opinion, to which she is entitled”, the authority added.

Keen’s held her ‘Let Women Speak’ events in March 2023 in Australia and New Zealand. Her rallies in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart were met with counter-protests by trans rights activists.

Keen’s anti-trans rally in Melbourne on March 18, 2023, was attended by neo-Nazis belonging to the National Socialist network who clashed with trans rights activists and performed the Nazi salute.

Keen abandoned her New Zealand tour after she was doused with tomato sauce and pelted with an egg at her event in Auckland on March 25, 2023.