National leader Christopher Luxon says Judith Collins was just "being Judith" and "didn't mean any harm" when she told media she identifies "as a 27-year-old Slovakian model".
Collins, who preceded Luxon as the party leader, on Tuesday said she has "no problem with other people choosing to be whoever they like to be", when asked about gender identity.
"Personally, I self-identify as a 27-year-old Slovakian model," she then said.
Asked on Wednesday morning whether he thought Collins' comment was funny or if she shouldn't have said it, Luxon said: "Judith's being Judith".
"She didn't mean any harm by that whatsoever," he told AM. "She, like me, wants people to be able to identify as they wish and be free to express themselves safely and feel that they can express themselves fully with whatever gender they identify with."
He said he believes other National MPs "want to encourage people to identify as they wish".
"I mean, we want to live in a country where people feel incredibly safe to be able to express themselves whichever way they want to and I think that's what Judith believes and that's what I believe and what many of our caucus believe."
Collins was being questioned on gender after Luxon last week said there are "two biological genders". He said it was his "preference" for women's sporting events to be for cisgender women, but also said it was up to sporting bodies to make decisions on the inclusion of transgender athletes.
"You have got to find a way so that you can actually have biological people, biological folk that actually don't have any undue or perceived unfairness going on in those sports and that is for those sports bodies to determine," he told The Platform.
Other MPs on Tuesday said it was a complex area.
"We are talking about individual people," said Matt Doocey. "I know it is very quick to throw a label around. But, in the end, it is individuals' lives we are talking about and I think especially in mental health awareness week, we should be very aware of that."
Simeon Brown said there was a difference between what people identify as and their biological sex.
Barbara Kuriger told reports that people "identify with a range of things".
Michael Woodhouse acknowledged it was an important topic for some people and that Collins had used a "flippant way to make a point".
"That is, gender identity and biological sex are two different things… it sounded like a fairly flippant comment."
The issue of whether transgender athletes should compete in the same sporting categories as cisgender athletes is one sporting organisations have recently been having to make calls on. They say they've been trying to balance the need to include transgender athletes with also not creating an unfair advantage for some athletes.
For example, Boxing New Zealand has established an 'open' category for athletes who have taken a process of medical transition, persons in the process of transition or persons who do not qualify for either the male or female category.
But gender identity has also become politicised overseas. During the recent Conservative Party leadership content in the UK, one prominent candidate promised to establish a "manifesto for women's rights" which would limit transgender women's inclusion in some sports categories. Another MP wrote a ten-part Twitter thread on the question of "Do I know what a woman is?"
