David Farrar: Desperation from Labour

A journalist asked Nicola Willis whether she would advise people to “ease back on the accelerator” or consider working from home due to higher petrol prices.

Nicola explicitly said she was “very reluctant to adopt the role of the schoolma’am telling people what to do with their own lives”. She went on to say that people will make their own choices based on their circumstances. That NZers are sensible. So she was explicitly saying, no she won’t tell people what to do.

She carried on and said most Kiwis already know you can save fuel if your car weighs less, or you drive slower. Again this was in the context of her saying they don’t need to be told this by the Government.

So what does Labour do? They run a campaign taking the last few words of her answer, to make it look like she is telling people to drive slower etc.

It is a tactic of desperation.

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders