The Labour Party’s general secretary, Andrew Kirton, defended on Monday his decision not to involve the police or the victims’ parents, saying it had been a “survivor-led response” rather than a cover-up, which permitted the teenagers to decide whether they wanted the matter taken further.

A sexual abuse support agency was asked to advise on the matter, but not until March 5, three weeks after the event. By that point, one of the victims had complained to a senior Labour lawmaker about the party’s lack of response.

Conor Twyford, chief executive of the agency HELP, said that while it was the first time she had been formally approached, it was “not at all” the first time she had heard of sexual misconduct at political party events.

Ms. Twyford supported Labour’s decision to contain the circle of people who knew about the assaults, but she criticized officials for their delayed response.

A lawmaker from the opposition center-right National Party, Judith Collins, criticized the decision not to involve the police.

Mrs. Collins, previously a lawyer, said that “a culture of not dealing with sexual assaults seriously and as the criminal acts that they are has fostered a culture that makes it very difficult for victims to come forward.”

But said she did not think sexual misconduct was a particularly political problem.

The youth wings of New Zealand’s other major political parties said they had not had similar issues. But the sole lawmaker from the libertarian party ACT, David Seymour, said his group had stopped running youth camps.