Jeremy Nimmo against Stuff

Stuff published an opinion piece on May 12, 2025, titled Pay equity: Enough with the slurs, now for some facts.

The article, by Finance Minister Nicola Willis was a response to a column which had criticised her for her part in halting multiple pay equity claims.

Jeremy Nimmo complained the article contained false statements and was in breach of Media Council Principle (4) Comment and Fact. He said the minister was lying when she said, “Labour’s broken regime had a hidden, exploding and ultimately unaffordable price tag" as was her claim that "no woman has had her pay cut."

Stuff did not respond to Mr Nimmo’s complaint.

However, the Media Council does not believe a case has been made to show the article breached Principle (4) which states: “A clear distinction should be drawn between factual information and comment or opinion. An article that is essentially comment or opinion should be clearly presented as such. Material facts on which an opinion is based should be accurate.”

This was clearly identified as an opinion piece by the finance minister. It contained rhetoric and debateable arguments of the type we hear from politicians every day.  While the opinions are clearly disputable, that is so in all opinion pieces, and such pieces have an important place in modern journalism.  The is no evidence of any plainly wrong statements of fact.

As the Media Council found in another recent ruling “A clearly labelled opinion piece is accepted as a place where robust views are accepted, including some hyperbole and oversimplification, so long as there is a reasonable basis in the facts.”

Decision: No grounds to proceed.