 Douglas told Wētere at the Cabinet meeting that "I don’t want to see you on television every night for the next four weeks of a by-election campaign talking about Māori loans that weren’t raised when there are ever so many more important matters before us in election year".Prebble said "Better to talk about the $7 billion that was borrowed (by Muldoon for Think Big) than about the $600 million that wasn't".After the cabinet meeting Lange (at the urging of his staff) defended Wētere at a press conference, saying " ... it was odd that he should be pilloried over loans that weren't raised, when the media seemed not interested in the $7 billion that had been raised and squandered by National".