Fact-checking Arena

Manurewa MP Arena Williams used her father as an example of someone who will benefit from scrapping the $5 prescription co-payment. As you can see Twitter community has pointed out that he would not pay $600 a year for prescriptions, but instead a maximum of $100.

Now generally you lave family members out of politics, but when the MP themselves tries to use them to score political points, I don’t think it is inappropriate to fact check. She implies he is in such poverty that he has to choose between paying his $5 fee or heating his bedroom.

So who is this poverty stricken pensioner who can’t afford $100 a year of prescriptions fees, so he can heat his room. According to her maiden speech, her father is Sir Haare Williams who has been a broadcasting general manager and an academic dean. Her mother is a GP and a former Royal Commissioner. And of course Arena herself is an MP and her husband is a legal partner at Meredith Connell, who is currently Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Auckland.

So trying to portray your family as living in poverty having to decide whether or not to switch on the bedroom heater seems rather far fetched.