Nicky Hager and God’s Kiwi Accent in 2014 Jerusalem, according to Cameron Slater

OPINION: Blogger Cameron Slater has credited Nicky Hager with bringing him back to Christianity, describing a moment in Jerusalem when he says a voice with a Kiwi accent reassured him during the fallout from the release of Dirty Politics.

In a personal account posted to social media, Slater recalls arriving in Israel in 2014 to hundreds of messages following Hager’s Dirty Politics book release. He described feeling isolated, overwhelmed and worried about his family as the controversy unfolded in New Zealand.

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Image: Cameron Slater with Alon Madar and Eli Geiger at the Blue Sky restaurant in Tel Aviv, where he said they discussed “LGBT life” in the city during his 2014 Israel trip. (Supplied)

Slater’s trip also included time in Tel Aviv. He was at Blue Sky restaurant with Alon Madar and Eli Geiger, learning about “LGBT life” in the city.

This adds context to the trip Slater now describes through the personal strain of the Dirty Politics controversy and his return to faith.

The restaurant outing was separate from the religious encounter in his account.

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Image: Cameron Slater says a Kiwi-accented voice reassured him at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after he arrived in Israel in 2014 to hundreds of messages following the release of Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics. Slater said he felt isolated, overwhelmed and worried about his family. (Cameron Slater / Facebook)

Slater places an experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where he says a voice with a Kiwi accent reassured him when he felt isolated and worried about his family.

“Suddenly I heard a voice, strangely in a Kiwi accent, and it felt warm and surrounding of me,” Slater wrote. “Don’t worry Cam, it will be all right,” he recalls the voice saying.

Slater said he could see nobody nearby. He interpreted the experience as “God had spoken to me” at the most holy of places, restoring a sense of peace and renewing his Christian faith. He says his faith endured after his stroke and while battling cancer.

“Thank you Nicky Hager, for writing your book, and bringing me back to Christ,” he wrote.

That unexpected acknowledgement gives the post its irony, the author Slater blames for his distress also receives credit for his spiritual recovery.

Image: Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics exposed links between Cameron Slater and his Whale Oil attack blog, his political allies and figures in the National Government. (Samuel Hudson / Quiet Pact Network)

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Hager’s book drew on leaked communications involving Slater, his political allies and figures in the then National Government. It alleged collaboration in attacks on political opponents.

Public scrutiny serves a democratic purpose, particularly when it examines relationships between influential commentators and those exercising government power.

Slater’s comparison between rockets falling in Israel and his “own rockets raining down on me” warrants similar care. It communicates how besieged he felt, while placing political controversy alongside the immediate dangers of war.

The voice with a Kiwi accent he heard gives his account a distinctly familiar quality. Its significance is ultimately a matter of his personal belief.

Image: Whale Oil was a highly influential and controversial New Zealand political blog run by blogger Cameron Slater from 2005 until it shut down in 2019. It began as a personal outlet but became known for its right-wing commentary, aggressive political posts and for publishing material linked to smear campaigns and attacks. (Supplied / thisquality / whaleoil.co.nz)

Readers are being shown the controversy through Slater’s experience of suffering after targeting others operating the now-shut-down Whale Oil political attack blog.

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Feeling persecuted does not, by itself, establish that the scrutiny was unjustified.

Nicky Hager and God’s Kiwi Accent in 2014 Jerusalem, according to blogger Cameron Slater

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