A Te Pāti Māori MP has been accused of telling “porkies” after claiming much of her work involved visiting youth justice facilities, but her office told chrislynchmedia.com it was a wording error that was never meant to refer to correctional facilities at all.

In a now deleted post, Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke wrote: “65% of my work has been going to visit Rangatahi in juvenile centres, correction centres or OT, who have been unfairly criminalised or to be a spoke [sic] person. Majority of this work is kept confidential and private, but definitely the most important part in the whole job, if there is any whaanau out there that need support please don’t hesitate to contact my office.”

Her office told chrislynchmedia.com the post was intended to highlight spending 65% of her time with Rangatahi and youth in the electorate generally.

MPs must obtain permission from the relevant minister before visiting facilities that fall under that minister’s responsibility. Those ministers said they had no evidence Maipi-Clarke had carried out the youth justice facility work she appeared to take credit for.

When Chris Lynch Media asked Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell how many times Maipi-Clarke had visited corrections facilities, his office said “our records show 1 visit to a prison occurring, and that was this year.”

You can tell it’s election year… pic.twitter.com/EdSk8OyIl6

— ACT New Zealand (@actparty) June 25, 2026

Children’s Minister Karen Chhour said on social media: “I’m all for advocating for our most vulnerable, but to out and out tell porkies and tales, saying that you’re out there being their spokesperson, and you’re out there visiting them in these juvenile centres. I’ll tell you how many she’s been to… zero. Zero emails to my office, zero visits to a youth justice centre. Election must be close.”

Maipi-Clarke’s office responds

Maipi-Clarke’s office said the post had been misread. “There was an error in the wording of the post. Once the Minister alerted the MP of the error, the post was removed. We are in communication with the Ministers office to clarify and are seeking to find a positive outcome.”

The office said “the original post’s intention was to highlight spending 65% of time with Rangatahi / Youth in the electorate in general , not at correctional facilities.

“Common sense would have seen the post was a wording error. A phone call would have solved the issue without any hassle. It was a post not a press release. The post has been removed.” The office added that conversations between Minister Chhour and Maipi-Clarke’s office “are moving positively.”

On X, Minister Chris Bishop called her a “repeat offender,” pointing to a 2023 incident in which Maipi-Clarke said during a debate that people “ram-raided” her home and “came into my house and threatened me.”

Detective Inspector Darrell Harpur later said “this incident was incorrectly reported as a ram raid, when it was a theft.”

“Police do not believe that the incidents have been racially motivated or coordinated. While we acknowledge that the incidents in which people have come on to the property will have been unsettling, we do not believe these constitute a home-invasion style entry into the house.”