Green Party co-leader Russel Norman has been given until Friday to apologise to Conservative Party leader Colin Craig over statements he made suggesting Craig was sexist and homophobic.
Craig has confirmed that if he did not receive an apology by 5pm Friday, he would launch a defamation suit.
Craig is demanding a retraction and apology from Norman over comments he made at Auckland's Big Gay Out that Craig thought a woman's place was in the kitchen and a gay man's in the closet.
A spokeswoman for Craig said it was unlikely he'd seek damages, rather, he would seek a retraction to be published across a similar sized audience.
But Norman has already refused to resile from his comments, calling Craig's views "offensive".
"Colin Craig's approach to politics of using expensive lawyers to try to tell other politicians what they can and cannot say, is not the best way that we should do politics in New Zealand," he said yesterday.
"It has a chilling effect on free speech if you have to pass everything in front of a defamation lawyer before you can say it."
His characterisation of Craig's comments was a "metaphor" to illustrate his views, he said.
"I was not saying Mr Craig is a bad person, I don't believe Mr Craig is a bad person, but I do strenuously disagree with his views about gay New Zealanders and about women New Zealanders."
Craig's past comments about the promiscuity of New Zealand women and gay relationships not being not normal "belong in 1950s New Zealand", he said.
Norman said he would not be backing down, because it was a matter of principle.
Yesterday, Craig's lawyer John MacKay wrote to Norman saying the comments were defamatory as it "harms his reputation to say that he holds such sexist, derogatory and offensive views about women and gay men".
"Neither the context of an election year, nor the occasion of the Big Gay Out provide you with a licence to say anything you like about Mr Craig," the letter said.
He demanded an apology and retraction to an audience similar in size to the one that heard Norman's original comments, which were also broadcast on TV.
Further action could be taken if no such apology and retraction was made, he said.
Labour deputy leader David Parker, a lawyer and former attorney-general, defended Norman's claim as "absolutely fair comment".
He offered to defend Norman in court should it end up there.
"The idea politicians can't make value judgments is wrong and if Colin Craig is so silly as to think he can repress public criticisms of his extreme positions he is both wrong in law and principle, and I will be one of many lawyers to offer to represent him for free in court. It's a nonsense," he said.
It's not the first time Craig has taken the legal route over statements made about him.
Early last year he launched a defamation suit against Ben Uffindell, publisher of the satirical news site The Civilian.
The site had published a story about floods in Nelson, Waikato and Bay of Plenty being caused by the passing of the Marriage Amendment Bill.
In December, Television New Zealand was required by the Broadcasting Standards Authority to issue an on-air apology for an item about him, which ran on Seven Sharp.
Source: Stuff.co.nz
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