Prime Minister John Key has promised to be "more precise" after being criticised by the Labour Party for misleading the public on his vote this year on the drinking age.
In Queenstown yesterday Mr Key said it was down to him being "in a rush" when he told media on Wednesday he voted for the drinking age to be lifted to 20, when he actually chose the split option.
"Oh well, I should have been more precise. I voted for the 20 for an off-licence, that's correct. In the end that failed, so I voted for 18.
"I could have been more precise. Look, I was walking to the House, bells were ringing. I was rushing through."
Mr Key had initially voted for the drinking age to be split so 18-year-olds could drink in bars, but only 20-year-olds could buy alcohol from off-licence premises.
When this option was voted out, he then voted by proxy, as he was overseas, for the age to stay at 18 rather than be raised to 20.
Mr Key said he had led the charge to bring the drinking age down on a split-age system right through the voting process in Parliament.
"Frankly, I think they [Labour] are being a bit pedantic, but fair enough."
Opposition MPs have been criticising Mr Key's forgetful ways over the past few weeks, including over the Government Communications Security Bureau's surveillance of Kim Dotcom, and this week they jumped on this as another slip-up.
However, Mr Key said the Labour Party, in particular, was being "pedantic", but he apologised if it had caused confusion.
"I'm sorry if that confused anyone, but my position on that has been very clear and I was rushing on my way to the House. I should have been more precise. I will be more precise next time."
He then went on to criticise Labour Party leader David Shearer.
"If they got everything right it would be great, but they have failed to get 20 things right this week. As I say, I should have been more precise, but I'm technically correct. I should have just added those words."
"We've had David Shearer telling us this week there's been lies, tapes, the whole nine yards. Don't you think they should face some slightly bigger issues rather than be focused on pedantic facts like that?"
