'1000% wrong', 'hilarious': How Farrar reacted to Nicky Hager's new book

Right-wing pollster David Farrar has flatly denied some allegations made against him in Nicky Hager's new book and dismissed another as "hilarious".

By Lauren Crimp and Lillian Hanly of RNZ

The Taxpayers' Union has also decried the book as a "full frontal attack".

Hager, an investigative journalist and author, on Tuesday released Dirty Work: The Taxpayers' Union and New Zealand's Hard Right, which he described as an exposé.

Hager argued the Taxpayers' Union (TU) used anti-Māori rhetoric as a political tool - especially during its Stop Three Waters campaign which began in 2021 - and shifted the 2023 election campaign to the right.

He said it was the story of how a "campaign of racist politics unfolded", alongside attacking and smearing of their political opponents.

The key characters of the book were the TU co-founders, Jordan Williams and Farrar, and a sister organisation called Hobson's Pledge, set up by former National leader Don Brash, Hager said.

Farrar also runs market research firm Curia, which produces the Taxpayers' Union-Curia political poll and the National Party's internal polling.

Farrar told RNZ he had not read the book but agreed to respond to specific allegations RNZ put to him.

Hager described Farrar - who retired from the TU board in 2023 - as Williams' most influential collaborator, saying there was more to his role than simply polling.

He said Farrar helped plan the TU's anti-capital gains tax campaign before the 2020 election "and used his privileged access to a National Party election database to target mailouts to houses occupied by wealthy National and ACT voters".

Farrar said he was of course encouraging campaigning against a capital gains tax, but he did not access National's database.

"It's totally, 1000% wrong, absolutely wrong," Farrar said.

"I'm quite outraged by that, that he would print that without any verification, and there is none because it's totally incorrect."

He said Hager's claim "speaks to the wider book, that he has put things in there that are absolutely demonstratedly false".'

Hager said Farrar was pushing the TU's Stop Three Waters campaign to lean more heavily on Māori issues.

He alleged there was a fight in 2022 between Farrar and TU staff who were saying "that's not our mission", and "we're here to fight about tax rates and economics".

Hager said the board sided with Farrar, deciding to shift the TU's mission statement from taxes and transparency, to focusing on accountability, legitimising a "move towards race".

Farrar denied that.

"That is not correct," he said.

"Does any organisation have internal debates on issues? Of course they will. I absolutely reject the characterisation that I was pushing for us to be more involved in Māori issues, in fact, I would say I would be quite on the opposite side, [being] extremely cautious on that."

Hager quoted a TU staffer as saying they found Farrar likeable but also tied him to enabling "every rotten thing" Williams had done.

Farrar rejected that and responded that every New Zealand organisation would have had one or two disgruntled staff members.

"A couple of anonymous ex-staffers, I don't think, is particularly newsworthy. I say I think it would be common in many organisations," he said.

Hager asserted the TU took extreme positions to arouse people's emotions and elicit donations.

Farrar said it was "typical politics" to encourage people to donate on issues.

"Sometimes you get rhetoric in politics, and what I reject is that this is something that happens only on one side of politics," he said.

"What it is, is Nicky [Hager] is on the hard left of politics, and he doesn't like successful lobby groups on the right of politics."

Hager said a particularly successful Farrar-Williams collaboration was the TU teaming up with Farrar's Curia Market Research to produce political polls.

"The most worrying aspect of having a lobby group in charge of the country's political polling is that there is no transparency about who is paying for the polls and the fact that the National Party has links to everyone concerned," he wrote.

Farrar said that was "hilarious", adding there was no deliberate strategy.

"Just like any other organisation, I do the polling, they publish it, so there's no secret funders for it," he said.

He pointed out Infrastructure New Zealand - also a lobby group - funded The Post political polls.

Hager also criticised the media's role, suggesting it contributed to poor transparency.

"Despite all their undeclared political machinations, both Farrar and Williams are often interviewed uncritically in the mainstream media - far more often than most genuinely independent experts and commentators.

More on this topic

Hundreds attend launch of Nicky Hager's new book in Wellington

The investigative journalist said the book would examine the Taxpayers' Union.

Politics

7:10pm

"At the time of writing, for instance, Radio New Zealand had interviewed Farrar about 600 times since 2007, an astonishing amount of coverage considering that he is one of the least independent people available. He is often introduced with labels such as 'polling company maestro', while Williams is given labels such as 'anti-waste campaigner'. It is lazy journalism."