Jacinda Ardern rejects Trump comparison in Wall Street Journal

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern has spurned the Wall Street Journal for comparing her to Donald Trump in a tweet.

"I absolutely refute the statement that was made there, and everyone who I think has been watching this campaign will know that what was said there is absolutely false and frankly offensive," she told reporters in Hamilton on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal recently tweeted an article about Ms Ardern and Labour's immigration policy and said: "Meet New Zealand's Justin Trudeau except she's more like Trump on immigration." 

The article said that Labour's stance on immigration "helps narrow the gap with conservative government". 

The Labour leader has made no changes to Labour's immigration policy since taking over from Andrew Little. The party wants to cut annual net migration levels by up to 30,000, but Ms Ardern pointed out they'd also lift the refugee quota to 1500 per year.

"I stand proudly on our policy of doubling the refugee quota in New Zealand. That's what I say to that," Ms Ardern said. 

The immigration reduction would come mostly from limiting the number of people granted student and work visas.

"We have infrastructure issues in Auckland and we know we need to address those. We know we need to build more houses. We wouldn't be having this conversation if there had been proper planning up front by the current government," she said. 

Newshub.