Willis: “I take offence to the statement that I need medical help, which I find offensive … I would like to assure all members of this House that I’m in great health and I went for an excellent run with the Treasurer of Australia, the British Chancellor in Washington DC recently and I find it offensive and in a long line of politicians in this House making personal aspersions on people. And in this case, I find that is disreputable for the Leader of the Opposition to have conducted himself that way.”
Hipkins: “I withdraw my statement if the member has taken it out of context. I was referring, of course, to the noise that she made, and nothing else.”
After Question Time, Hipkins was speaking to reporters in the foyer of Parliament, explaining that his comment was in response to “an unusual noise” and he said that if she was genuinely offended by it, he would be happy to restate that.
Chris Hipkins insisted his comments were only about the unusual sound Nicola Willis made, and nothing else. Photo / Mark Mitchell
At that point, she approached him in front of reporters: “Would you like to apologise?”
Hipkins: “I’m happy to if you were genuinely offended by what I said. I was referring to the noise that you were making and nothing else.
Willis: “I think you know exactly what you were meaning.”
She then walked off.
Willis has been asked for further comment on what she thought Hipkins was really meaning.
It is no secret that Willis has lost a lot of weight in the past year, through diet and exercise.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis out for a run in Washington DC last week with other finance ministers, Rachel Reeves, from the UK, Jim Chalmers from Australia in black and Arcadi Espana, from Spain. Photo / Instagram
That appeared to be the point she was making about her having been running with counterparts from Australia and Britain (and Spain) at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington.