Wayne Brown says ‘angry little man’ took a swing at him at fundraiser for National hopeful
Friday, 17 July 2026
The top echelons of the National Party have gone to ground with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s office and Auckland Central candidate Candice Kinser’s office refusing to comment on allegations of an attempted assault by a donor on Auckland mayor Wayne Brown at a campaign event.
A communications staffer has distanced the party from the event, denying it was a party-organised fundraiser.
But The Post understands Kinser had set a goal of raising around $40,000 for the party’s campaign to unseat incumbent Chlöe Swarbrick.
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance want the police to investigate, with spokesperson Josh Van Veen saying physical threats “have no place in a democracy”.
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“Whether the target is the mayor or any other member of the public, allegations of violence should be treated seriously and those responsible held to account,” Van Veen said.
Long time party stalwart, fundraiser and former party president Michelle Boag, who was present at the event, said the incident was “a storm in a teacup,” referring questions to senior PR staff within the party.
The Post earlier reported claims from the mayor that an “angry” and “little” man took a swing at him at the Ponsonby event, hosted by Auckland real estate supremo Graham Wall. He said the incident occurred after he called out the man for making a sexist remark.
As a result of the altercation, Brown’s office says it is looking into “additional security measures”.
“There's always somebody who wants to be famous and have a swing at you,” Brown told The Post.
“But, I know how to avoid it, and I just walked out of the room, so nothing happened,” he said.
He added that he has “learned to keep away from angry people”.
“I own pubs in South Auckland. Do you think I'm worried about a scrap?”
Brown denied starting the altercation and said he removed himself immediately.
“If it had been a tussle, somebody would have been hurt and it wouldn’t have been me.”
When The Post contacted the man it is claimed had been involved in the altercation, he said he was surprised to receive a phone call from a journalist.
“I don’t know who would have spoken to you,” he said. “It depends how it’s seen, I suppose. I’d rather not comment.”
All he would say was that in his view Brown was “an unusual man and seems to have a behaviour of insulting people”.
“Having said that, we've all got our crosses to bear, I suppose, in one way or another through life,” the man said.
In a follow-up conversation, the man said he had “nothing to comment on”.
“The only crossness was that he was interrupting people during his speech. But, I’ve got nothing else to say.”
He said he was “denying” that there had been “a mess”.
“Look there were four people in the kitchen. Why don't you chase them up? Mr Brown was one of them, why don’t you give him a call?”
Among those said to have been in the kitchen was Kinser’s partner Robbie Adams, with one attendee telling The Post they saw him emerge “ashen faced”.
“Those things are sort of confidential at that event, as I’m sure you can understand,” Adams said.
“I think the party would potentially give some guidance, or even Graham Wall, but for me to comment on it would be a little out of school,” he said.
Wall said speculation about the alleged incident was “a complete misdirection”.
“If anything had happened around here, I would have known. You can't fart around here without everyone knowing, it’s a small [venue],” he said.
Brown backed that up, saying Wall was unlikely to have noticed anything had happened.
According to Brown, during speeches at the event a “little man” made a sexist remark about having “handled a lot of women” in politics, to which Brown publicly objected.
“I just went, really? What is that?” the mayor said.
The donor later confronted Brown in the kitchen and accused him of “interrupting”, said Brown.
Brown said as a result of the incident he wouldn’t be in a hurry to go back to a National Party event.
“It was completely mad …and you can report that I did not donate.”
The Post has put Brown’s allegations back to the man but has not yet received a response. It has also been unable to reach Kinser for comment via phone or at her Ponsonby campaign office.
The National Party has also been approached for comment.