Trade Me today accused the National Party of breaching its intellectual property after it uploaded a tweet in the likeness of the online marketplace, but instead it listed 'Meth Rehab' as the product for sale.
Earlier today, National's Twitter account uploaded an image captioned, "Nothing to see here", as a satirical take on the $2.75 million in funding allocated to a Mongrel Mob-led meth rehabilitation programme.
On the fake 'Meth Rehab' listing image, it had the seller as 'gangs@gangHQ.com', with other listings shown as marijuana, 'misc pills' and an image of a bong - a device used to smoke marijuana.
Trade Me's Millie Silvester told 1 NEWS the company was not consulted about the image by National and believed it breached their intellectual property.
"We don't want anyone messing with our brand, something we've built with pride over 22 years," Silvester said.
"We've been in touch with National to ask them to remove this tweet which they've done."
The tweet was deleted shortly after it was posted and prior to 1 NEWS contacting National.
In response, a National spokesperson said that Trade Me "got in touch and asked us to remove the tweet, which we did".
Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick retweeted the post and asked "Are you guys OK".
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern earlier today said National's stance against the funding was "pretty obviously a political manoeuvre".
"Our position is fund what works."
Yesterday, Ardern said the programme, which ran for a "short time" in 2020, was based off a 2010 programme which was part of the then-National Government's methamphetamine action plan.
Ardern said the programme was "very much focused" on trying to address meth addiction and the crime which often results from it.
"It is not new and it would be a shame to see a political party that once supported addressing meth addiction and crime-related meth addiction, from stepping away from that, which now appears to be the case."
National's Simeon Brown today announced his intention to lodge a Member's Bill to "prevent future Government funding from being granted to organised crime units".
"This will likely seem self-evident to some and yes, it should be reasonable to expect that public officials and elected representatives would use their common sense and good judgement to not allocate public funds to gangs," he said.
"Any New Zealander who needs drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation should be able to access such treatment. It is vital that rehabilitation is funded and effective. A gang which imports, makes, and deals drugs itself, is not an effective organisation for rehabilitation."
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