Look for the weasel words

The Herald reports:

Senior Cabinet Ministers were sounded out about an Auckland light rail bid from the NZ Super Fund in January 2018, months before a proposal was put to the Government.
But Transport Minister Phil Twyford says the subsequent proposal was unsolicited, and any suggestion that he has been lying about that is defamatory.

The weasel word here is “unsolicited”. That is meaningless in this context, as a Minister can’t legally solicit a proposal – only the agency can. But what a Minister can do is encourage and tell NZSF that such a bid would not be a waste of time.

Why else would those behind the bid have met with the Minister?