![\"National](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/national-leader-christopher-luxon-SRUYHD3WN5HSVJRA4AEY5SC4UI.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLeader Christopher Luxon has praised National for \u201cdoing the right thing\u201d after the party removed a Palmerston North campaign volunteer convicted in 2021 of sexual conduct with a minor.<\/p>\n
Roger Buchanan had been a campaign volunteer and a member of National\u2019s Palmerston North electorate committee. A party spokesperson told 1News he was removed from both roles once the party became aware of his history following inquiries by the New Zealand Herald,<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Party stands with victims of sexual violence,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Taup\u014d, Luxon said he had only just learned of the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to see the party\u2019s got onto it quickly and removed him. That\u2019s entirely the appropriate thing to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked what vetting the party had carried out, and whether it had failed to check a man whose conviction was easy to find online, the National leader pointed to the speed of the response.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
National leader Christopher Luxon. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a supporter volunteer, it sounds like the party\u2019s got onto it really quickly… good on them for doing the right thing, as they should do. It\u2019s what we would expect them to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luxon was also asked what message Buchanan\u2019s involvement in the campaign sent to survivors of sexual violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, there\u2019s lots of volunteers. It\u2019s important when the issue was raised, the party\u2019s obviously moved with great speed, and that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019d expect them to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several photos show Buchanan alongside National\u2019s Palmerston North candidate Ankit Bansal, who is contesting the electorate for a second time. One group photo also includes Luxon.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the Palmerston North District Court sentenced Buchanan to 10 months\u2019 home detention for sexual conduct with a minor, an offence committed while he worked as a teacher.<\/p>\n
According to Stuff\u2019s reporting on the case, Buchanan initiated a relationship with a student at the school where he taught. The student said she felt Buchanan had groomed her, and that it had a significant impact on her schooling and mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n
Stuff reported Buchanan told police any sexual activity happened after the student turned 16 and was consensual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leader Christopher Luxon has praised National for \u201cdoing the right thing\u201d after the party removed a Palmerston North…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,11507,43,40,38,41,39,270122],"class_list":["post-640825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-national-party","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-vote-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}