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A judge has banned a stripper associating with the daughter of her new boyfriend after a complaint the eight-year-old danced nude at her grandparent’s Christmas celebrations.

But a senior National Party figure has backed the erotic dancer in a family court battle between the girl’s parents over custody.

The professional stripper who cannot be identified for legal reasons formed a relationship with the father of the eight-year-old last year. The businessman had an informal custody arrangement with the girl’s mother, a primary school teacher, which allowed him to see his daughter every second weekend.

But the girl’s mother told Sunday News she approached Child Youth and Family after the eight-year-old began exhibiting “bizarre overt sexual behaviour”.

The matter went to the Family Court, which in March issued an interim parenting order banning the businessman’s girlfriend from seeing the girl. The order permitted the father to see his daughter only “on the condition that [the child] is not to be in the company of [the stripper] until further order of the Court”.

In her affidavit to the family court, the girl’s mother said of the eight-year-old’s actions at the Christmas party: “She started strip dancing in front of the family.

“She was told off immediately. She then took her underwear off and threw them up into a tree.

“She then jokingly flashed her private parts to some of her cousins.

“[The girl] has never done anything like that before.”

The woman said when she spoke to her former husband about the impromptu strip dance, he told their daughter: “A body is beautiful and something that we should not be ashamed of.”

In her affidavit, the furious mother said she wanted her eight-year-old “to be a little girl”.

“We would not allow her to wear provocative clothing,” she wrote.

She claimed her daughter was “starting to behave in a way that is not normal behaviour”. She blamed both her former husband and his girlfriend for this. “I feel that [the father] has lost his way with respect to our parenting of our daughter,” she wrote.

The mother said the eight-year-old had told her, after returning from the home shared by her father and the stripper, that the dancer “has nude photographs of herself on the walls and the ceilings in the bedroom”.

A lawyer, appointed by the Family Court to act for the child, said in her April 20 report there was concern “about the direct effect [on the child] of viewing or being exposed to adult material”.

But in her affidavit to the court, the stripper said she was careful to separate her personal life from her erotic dancing.

She said when the eight-year-old first stayed at her and the girl’s father’s house, she had a Hannah Montana poster and Barbie toys set up for her.

“I put away anything that could be seen as potentially risque … (thigh-high boots, and outfits).”

The stripper obtained character references for the court.

One support letter came from National’s Hamilton East electorate chairwoman Megan Campbell, who said: “[The stripper] is truly one of the good people in the world. She is warm, loving, caring, responsible, kind, trustworthy and dependable.”

Campbell added: “I understand there has been concern that there are nude photos or images [of the stripper] in the house. I have never seen anything of this nature … [she] is always so very careful to keep her working and private lives separate.”

Hamilton East MP David Bennett said last night he was unaware of the case: “She wrote this letter in her personal capacity.”

The stripper refused to comment but her businessman boyfriend said the stress of the case was likely to cause him to separate from her. “It is just getting too much,” he said.