GORDON LIGHTFOOT | Local
IT’S ROUGH OUT THERE
Tory Whanau gave her comms team an absolute bollocking today.
It appears that the key messages they supplied her ahead of a Newstalk ZB interview failed to tell her not to say she’s doing it tough on $189,000 a year.
On Tuesday the Wellington mayor told radio host Nick Mills about how she’s had to sell her car to pay the bills, despite earning a very comfortable salary paid for by Wellington ratepayers.
She apparently thought this would make her come across as down to earth and relatable, especially as she went to great pains to point out her “privileged position” multiple times.
Senior Comms advisor at Wellington Council, Josie Hepburn says Whanau is regretting taking the interview in that direction. “Tory has calmed down now and has apologised to us for her outburst after the media reaction.
“It’s so hard for women right now because there’s so much misogyny in our country’s media,” she said without any hint of irony.
“To be fair, probably not the best thing to talk about her own personal situation when there’s a lot of people on much, much less money than her.
“But she’s so brave just for putting herself out there and actually doing interviews with gross Newstalk ZB.”
Whanau would not comment on her personal budgeting, but she could well be allocating money into the wrong places, much like Wellington Council.
More to come.
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