Phil Twyford

MP for Te Atatū

Housing Spokesperson

MEDIA STATEMENT

16 June 2016

Paula Bennett as a victim hard to swallow

The National Party spin machine has gone into overdrive to try and present Paula Bennett as the victim in the Te Puea Marae smear saga, says Labour Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“Bill English in Parliament today tried valiantly to paint the malicious leak about the police investigation into Hurimoana Dennis as dinner party gossip that the media then used to make a hit on Paula Bennett.

“Now the National Party’s pollster and pet blogger David Farrar is spinning the same line; that the leak was just gossip, and Bennett’s well known antipathy to ONE News journalist Rebecca Wright made it unlikely she had approved the leak.

“This is classic National Party. They are in a pickle – with the dirty politics exposed for everyone to see – so they double down. Having tried to discredit Te Puea Marae chairman Hurimoana Dennis, they’ve now got One News reporter Rebecca Wright in their sights.

“If the homelessness crisis wasn’t so painful for the people affected, this latest nonsense from the National Party would be laughable.

“It is past time the National Party got on with the job of fixing homelessness and stopped blaming everyone else for their own failed policy. Stop spinning, and start building houses,” Phil Twyford says.

ENDS

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