Simon Bridges continues to defend controversial Facebook post

National Party leader Simon Bridges is still defending his controversial Facebook post. Bridges was forced to defend himself after facing a flurry of online fury over the post about the Government's decision to extend the level 4 lockdown. The Facebook post has attracted more than 16,000 reactions – many of them negative - and the Opposition leader has been facing speculation from some in the media that his job might be on the line. Other members of his party defended his leadership, but many commentators have since doubled down on their criticism of his leadership. Talking to The Weekend Collective, Bridges repeated his mantra that he makes no excuses and would repeat his comments. He says that the anger from people could be due to some people being hit harder by the pandemic than others. "There's a couple kinds of people in New Zealand at the moment. There are those us with a job and are getting paid and at home," Bridges said, quoting Mike Hosking in saying that these people are "baking banana bread". "There's another group where people are suffering. It could be because their business is going under or they know that their job is gone or in jeopardy." Asked if he thinks his comments seem that he is not rowing in the same direction as New Zealanders, Bridges says he congratulates the Government and New Zealanders on the job done so far. “We’ve flattened the curve, but I’m focused on what’s coming.” He confirmed that there were two statements prepared; one about the extension, which was what was published, and a second if we had moved straight to level three. Bridges says that the second one would have been “less strong”. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.