Anti-vax ex-gang member turned wannabe councillor: ‘Cannabis cures all diseases’ – Stuff

An anti-vaccine former gang member who thinks cannabis is the cure for all diseases is standing in local government elections in the Bay of Plenty.

Former Black Power/Nomads member Rawiri Te Kowhai, who also said he’d like to see Bill Gates “assassinated”, is hoping to be elected in Rotorua Lakes Council despite sharing harmful disinformation and conspiracy theories.

Te Kowhai, the cultural advisor to the Outdoors and Freedom party, said he supports party co-leader Sue Grey “in everything she talks about”.

Grey has questioned public health measures and spread unfounded Covid-19 therapies such as “sunshine and Vitamin D”, as well as claims that the vaccine is causing widespread death.

Te Kowhai revealed that a party meeting will take place in September to decide if they will join a political alliance with Destiny Church-aligned Vision NZ, recently proposed by Brian Tamaki.

“All policies are likely to be changed,” he said.

Te Kowhai said the Outdoors and Freedom Party have talked to other smaller parties – including Voices for Freedom. He admitted he was not aligned with VFF, but did have good friends there.

“If we and other smaller parties do come together as an umbrella party, it would be ‘a collective of chiefs’, but we have to discuss policies first,” he said.

Stuff revealed that anti-vaccination, anti-mandate group Voices for Freedom is targeting local elections to “sway the results” and make the country “ungovernable”.

Te Kowhai was a candidate for the Outdoors and Freedom Party in the 2020 general election, standing in Waiariki – an electorate in the Bay of Plenty and Taupō regions. He received seven votes.

Te Kowhai grew up in Tokoroa, and joined Black Power through the influence of his father who he described as a “first generation gangster”.

He then moved to Otaki, where he became involved with the Black Power/Nomads and “an activist”. He said time served in prison was not for serious offences and claimed he had not been involved with gangs for “many years”. He has been a solo father for 13 years.

A Rongoā Māori practitioner, Te Kowhai lost his job as a healer in Te Puke when he refused a Covid-19 vaccine, and for that reason he later joined the summer occupation of Parliament’s grounds. He said he would like to introduce a haurora/wellbeing hub in Rotorua, which he said would help people to get out of motel living

“The government spends millions to keep people in motels, but they need to spend that on health, on people’s wellbeing,” he said. “Having been in the struggle myself, I know the struggle.”

He told Stuff he did not consider himself “anti-vax”, nor did he want to be called a conspiracy theorist.

“Conspiracy theorists are people who believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny,” he said. “When I grew up I watched Logan’s Run [an American science fiction television series], and that influenced me.

“I do think people are getting played by believing the government narrative, or pretending to believe it, so they don’t lose government funding. I have the foresight to see what is happening. There needs to be proper debates.”

Te Kowhai’s social media footprint revealed he is against vaccine mandates, and he also thinks vaccines should be banned along with other pharmaceutical drugs, including anti-depression medication. He said vaccines breach the Nuremberg Code, and likened those who impose them to “Nazis”.

He said Covid is no more than a “flu combined with hay fever”, and that cannabis was a cure for all diseases. He told Stuff that he meant cannabis oil.

”In the first lockdown I came out and said how cannabis would be good for Covid, and I still say that,” said Te Kowhai. “It’s good for many things.”

Māori pandemic response group co-leader, Dr Rawiri Jansen, said that while traditional medicine could help people who are unwell from Covid, it could not prevent Covid, and that the vaccine was still needed.

Jansen also said that the spread of misinformation is one of many potential barriers affecting the success of the vaccination programme for Māori.

Te Kowhai also posts about other conspiracy theories. On Facebook, he said he hopes Bill Gates “gets assassinated”, and when questioned he said Gates was “pushing Pfizer and Covid, and now he is pushing Monkeypox”.

He also shared theories that suggested either the United Nations or the World Economic Forum was working to deprive citizens of autonomy, and even turn them into robots.

“My friend is Dr Matt Shelton, who said the vaccines do contain nano particles and I believe him,” said Te Kowhai.

Claims of nanotechnology or microchips in vaccines – including those made by Shelton – have been debunked by leading scientists, including nanotechnologist Michelle Dickinson.

Te Kowhai disputed this.

“I don’t believe them,” he said. “They are paid by governments to say that.”

He also shared unsubstantiated claims about fluoride.

Te Kowhai is one of four candidates standing for election in Rotorua who say they are affiliated with the Rotorua District and Ratepayers’ Association. All four have been endorsed by mayoral candidate Reynold Macpherson.

Macpherson stated on council’s election Select App, where the public can ask candidates questions, that he did not know that anyone he had endorsed and shared conspiracy theories.

“RDRR candidates are all independent thinkers and know the difference between facts, opinion and theories,” Macpherson said on the app. “Like others, they speculate about causal conditions and try to find relevant research to test theories.”