National Party officials were aware the party’s Maungakiekie candidate Greg Fleming had previously compared same sex civil unions to incest and polygamy.

The remarks were made in 2004 when Fleming was the managing director of the Maxim Institute, a socially conservative think tank, and Fleming subsequently distanced himself from them.

On Tuesday morning, National Leader Christopher Luxon was blindsided by the comments, having not been made aware of them. He also distanced himself from the remarks, saying he supported civil unions and same sex marriage.

But heading into the House this afternoon, Luxon said Fleming had disclosed the remarks to the party ahead of his selection last month. National’s bureaucracy takes a hands-off approach to candidate selections, leaving them to local party delegates.

But this can get the party into trouble when local members select a candidate the party higher-ups might disapprove of - particularly in the current climate when Luxon has made a point of trying to modernise and diversify the party.

Luxon said Fleming had been “upfront with the party and the delegates that selected him as a candidate”.

“They are not positions that I hold,” Luxon said.

Luxon said he was not given prior warning of the comments, despite them representing an obvious political risk.

 “The conversation with Greg had happened with the party and with the delegates. They were aware of that,” Luxon said.

“We have a standard vetting process that we do for all candidates.

“One of the things that we do in the vetting process: The candidates either raises those issues they bring forward to the party and to the delegates and then we actually make sure that people can make the decision based off that.”

Civil unions were passed by the Fifth Labour Government and gave people the option of legal recognition of a relationship, giving couples the rights of marriage without actually getting married. Same sex couples were not allowed to marry at the time and civil unions were seen as a way of affording the legal and social aspects of marriage to those couples. Same-sex marriage was not legislated until 2013.

Luxon said he believed Fleming had also been through the National 101 programme recently established for people who are considering candidacy. The programme was designed to encourage non-typical candidates to come forward.

Fleming said he “wouldn’t make them [the comments] again” and said they “weren’t helpful”.

He said he now supported civil unions.

“Twenty years on, I very much support civil unions. My comments two decades ago were trying to make a point about contractual law but weren’t helpful and I wouldn’t make them again.

“Our marriage laws are now well and truly settled and I support leaving them as they are,” he said.

Labour holds Maungakiekie, a central Auckland electorate that includes the suburbs of Onehunga and One Tree Hill among others, by a razor-thin majority of 635, meaning National is likely to take it at the 2023 election given the scale of the nationwide swing against Labour.

Luxon does have the option of distancing himself from the remarks by exerting pressure on the list ranking process to dump Fleming down the list, a signal he is unhappy with the candidate.

Luxon said he would be able to work with Fleming in his caucus.

“We have a national National Party that represents a range of views. It’s not a monolithic party,” Luxon said.