Ngarewa-Packer criticised the National Party's "Demand The Debate" campaign, saying it fuelled racism. "They knew exactly what they were doing when they started this latest campaign,” she said, "I can tell you the day, the hour, the minute it went from being 18 threats a week to 30 to 40 a night. It was after National started criticising the Māori health authority, and then the He Puapua report.” She noted cases of harassment and death threats from far-right activists to Māori women, which had been escalating, and has called for a joint task force to investigate anti-Māori hate speech.
