• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon condemned the alleged attack on Shane Jones’ wife at Auckland Airport.
• Dot Jones filed a police complaint, emphasising politicians’ families should not be accosted in public.
• Luxon highlighted the need for balancing accessibility of politicians with their safety and security.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says it is “not acceptable” that Cabinet minister Shane Jones’ wife was allegedly accosted at an airport.

Dot Jones claims she was grabbed on the shoulder at Auckland Airport by a man who had shouted angry slurs at her husband.

She has laid a police complaint, saying politicians and their families should not be accosted while going about their lives.

This morning Luxon told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Kiwis have a “highly unique” culture when it comes to the accessibility of politicians and their families and he does not want that to stop but the safety of politicians is essential.

Cabinet minister Shane Jones and wife Dot at the NZ First election night party in 2023. Photo / Mike Cunningham

Luxon said they have nurtured a culture in New Zealand where politicians were accessible to the public but at the same time they could also go about their private business.

As an example he and wife Amanda enjoyed an outing to the recent Dua Lipa concert at Spark Arena.

“You go off overseas, honestly, the MPs and the Prime Ministers live in real bubbles because there are 24 cars around you when you move through cities… it’s just bananas.”

He recalled conversations with former US President Barack Obama about his shock over our differences with the US.

“But equally, there are serious risks sadly, there are people who get very fixated or angry about a particular issue or policy and therefore direct it at the politician or Prime Minister.

He said they were trying to find the “balance” of having enough security and support for families and the politicians.

Police today said they were obtaining a formal statement from one of the parties involved in Saturday’s airport incident.

Dot Jones claims she was grabbed at Auckland Airport

Earlier Dot Jones spoke publicly about the incident to highlight the risk MPs faced but also as a warning to other politicians’ spouses.

Shane Jones has also spoken about the incident and his wife’s decision to make a police complaint.

“If we allow these small infractions to go unchecked it feeds a momentum of malevolence that all MPs and their families are fair game.

“It’s a horrible experience for the spouse of an MP.”

The Herald had learned the altercation took place after Shane and Dot Jones arrived at Auckland Airport’s domestic terminal to catch the scheduled 8.25am flight home to Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands.

Dot Jones told the Herald the couple had left their luggage at the regional airport check-in at around 7.30am and were making their way to the main food court area for breakfast when a man started shouting loudly at Jones. Much of the abuse involved offensive language and personal slurs.

As airport workers and other travellers watched, the man continued to shout abuse at Jones along with profane descriptions of NZ First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters.

Shane Jones said: “I turned around and said ‘what did you say, mate’ and he came right up in my face and it was a full-throated spray. Then I realised he was addressing his vulgarity at me, that Winston and I would be dog tucker real soon.”

Shane Jones said he thought the man was Australian and asked: “Are you a Kiwi?”

The response from the balding Pākehā man in glasses, who Shane Jones estimated was in his 50s, was to say: “I’m just as Kiwi, in fact, I’m more Kiwi than you are.”

The incident continued to escalate, with the man getting up in Jones’ face so she put her hand in between them as they were “hongi distance away”.

She said the man claimed assault when her palm hit his nose and he came after her when she tried to leave.

“My back was turned and he came up behind me and grabbed me. He grabbed my shoulder. It was all so quick.”

As Dot Jones recovered her balance, Shane Jones said the man’s wife emerged to intervene, apologising profusely.

“I said, ‘if that’s your husband, he’s a threat to himself’. Another place, another MP, it might not have ended like this.”