Labour's Barbara Edmonds apologises for calling Nicola Willis 'duck-faced horse' (www.rnz.co.nz)

submitted 1 week ago by Dave@lemmy.nz to c/politics@lemmy.nz

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Labour's finance spokesperson has apologised to the Finance Minister after audio of her calling Nicola Willis a "duck-faced horse" was leaked to media.

Barbara Edmonds told RNZ she got it wrong, and feels "absolutely terrible about it."

The comment was made during a question and answer session at a Labour Party candidate list conference at the weekend, and was designed to test MPs about difficult questions that may be put to them, or questions that didn't make sense.

During the exercise, a random question was used that might be put to an MP, and the task for candidates was to respond in a way that may allow them to present Labour's political messaging instead.

The question posed in the exercise was "would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?"

When it was her turn to respond, Edmonds said "every week I have to stand up in the house and ask a duck-faced horse - did I get that right [laughs] - questions every single week."

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[-] absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 2 points 6 days ago

It would depend; mostly on the intelligence of the 100 duck-sized horses. If they used pack tactics and attacked in unison; 100 duck-sized horses would quickly overcome me and take me down, if however they acted like individuals then they would be easy to beat.

A single horse sized duck would be difficult to defeat; the feathers would act as natural armor, it would be relatively slow compared to a normal horse, but ducks are aggressive which would tip the balance in favor of the giant duck. But with pack tactics 100 duck sized horses would still pose more of a problem.

[-] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 week ago

I don't see Willis's name in that quote.

[-] Dave@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I thought the same which made it pretty funny that everyone knew who she meant. But then Edmonds is Labour's finance spokesperson and mentions standing up each week to talk to her so I'm guessing the implication was obvious to those in the room since it's probably the only regular person she has to speak to in the house like that.