ANALYSIS: Part of being a good opposition is attacking when you see the opportunity, then making hay while the sun shines.

National has been ramping up its attack ads ahead of the Government's first budget next week, its latest meme claiming the Government would spend $1 billion funding foreign diplomats, at the expense of cheaper GP visits.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has labelled it "fake news". But National has cried foul, and accuses Labour of similar tactics.

NATIONAL PARTY/FACEBOOK The image which appeared on the National Party's page.

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National's social media - particularly Facebook - has been heavily populated with memes and short videos opposing the Government's policies, announcements, and calling into question its plans and ability to stick to promises.

ROSA WOODS/STUFF Jacinda Ardern has called out National for spreading "fake news".

So far, so normal if you're the opposition. However, some of the ads are more than just the opposite political stance - they're factually incorrect.

Clearly, no political party has the monopoly on circulating misleading messages for political gain, and Labour's record isn't clean of questionable claims against the former government.

When Labour was in opposition it applied the same attack tactics.

But are these ads smart politicking, or does it over-step the line into "fake news" territory?

The ads put a negative spin on things like taxes, and the Government's slew of advisory/working/review groups - things National has consistently challenged Labour on since before the election.

More than 94,000 people like National's Facebook page, and about 15,500 people follow it on Twitter. There will be some crossover between the different platforms, but the party has a massive reach across the country and is helped on by the its youth wing, the Young Nats, which usually shares the party's posts.

JOSHUA ROBERTS/REUTERS US President Donald Trump isn't afraid to label media stories he disagrees with as fake news.

The term "fake news" - the spreading of propaganda or misinformation - has gained notoriety thanks to US President Donald Trump, who's called out news outlets, including CNN, for publishing news he disagrees with.

During the 2016 US presidential election, the issue reached boiling point, with propaganda, and in some cases completely inaccurate claims, being published via traditional and social media.

National Party leader Simon Bridges has said he "rejected the claim we are misleading New Zealanders".

"For a Prime Minister who claims to have taken offence at comparisons to US President Donald Trump it's interesting that she chooses to use a term he made famous," he said.

$1 BILLION FOR DIPLOMATS

The meme that sparked the discussion on Thursday was one relating to the Government's foreign affairs and aid spending, which was posted on National's Facebook page.

The meme said: "$1 billion for diplomats vs cheaper GP visits", along with pictures of Winston Peters and Ardern.

On Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced almost $1 billion for foreign affairs and aid over the coming four years.

In reality, $150.4m of that will go towards Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (MFAT) operational expenditure, for things like diplomats, and an additional $40.3m in capital expenditure, which would allow for the new embassy that was closed by former National Minister Murray McCully in 2012.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has unveiled a major new funding package for the foreign service, most of which is going towards aid and development t in the Pacific, not diplomats.

The bulk of the money - $714.2m - is for New Zealand's Official Development Assistance (ODA) - aid and development money - primarily towards the Pacific region.

"We are not spending a billion dollars on diplomats," Ardern said.

"What they've said there is absolutely incorrect, and I will continue to correct it."

But National knows the tactic of saying this money comes at the expense of much-needed healthcare at home will play well with voters, who frequently say: 'charity starts at home'. And with a finite amount of money, the Government won't be able to afford to fund everything.

Ardern said the Government had to put that much money towards MFAT and aid.

Just to tread water and keep the ODA at 0.27 per cent of gross national income (GNI), the Government had to commit $590.6m. It gave a further $123.6m to get it up to 0.28 per cent by 2021. This was still significantly below New Zealand's international obligation of getting aid spending to 0.7 per cent of GNI.

Meanwhile, the former National government had also committed New Zealand to APEC hosting costs of $115m in 2021, and the World Expo in Dubai of $53m.

But Bridges said Labour was prioritising New Zealand's foreign affairs over its duty to Kiwis.

"Health Minister David Clark has been clear that he is not going to deliver universal cheap GP visits by 1 July 2018 as Labour promised, because he says the Government has to 'balance competing priorities'. At the same time the Government has pledged more than $900m extra to New Zealand's foreign service," he said.

LET'S TAX THIS

During the election campaign, National put out two versions of a tax attack ad, to hit Labour in one of its weakest spots.

Labour campaigned on fixing the housing crisis, and said it was willing to look at tax measures, like a capital gains tax, to do that.

National used the opportunity to tell Kiwis Labour would be hiking taxes, including income taxes. While Kiwis agree inequality is an issue, and public services like health and education need better funding, not many are willing to have their income tax go up.

Labour never planned to increase income tax, in fact it repeatedly ruled it out. There was the "unfortunate spreading of the assumption", Ardern said.

But it was too late, National's spreading of inaccurate messages had the desired effect: it forced Ardern to spend a week denying the income tax claim, and after a slump in the polls, she ruled out introducing any new taxes until after 2020.

National pulled out the tax card again a couple of weeks ago during the debate over fuel tax.

LABOUR ATTACKS NATIONAL

Some might say: 'that's just politics', and largely they'd be right.

Exaggeration and twisting of the truth is intrinsically linked to politics. It might be why a Research New Zealand study from 2017 found politician the second-least trusted profession (ahead of only journalists).

And it doesn't just happen on one side. Labour has also used social media as a way of attacking National.

Again, tax was an issue. But Labour targeted National's tax cuts, and Family Tax Credit boost from its last budget.

KATRINA TANIRAU/STUFF Leader of the National Party and Opposition Simon Bridges is using every opportunity to attack the Government, which is fine and fair, until the attacks are based on fake info.

In a Facebook ad from July last year, Labour posted a meme saying National would give $400m in tax cuts to the top 10 per cent of the country, at the expense of homes schools and hospitals.

The ad came after National gave tax cuts, and boosted the Family Tax Credit, which it estimated would help about 2.2 million, from all income brackets.

The full benefit of the planned tax cuts were set to go to everybody earning over $52,000 per year - that's about a million people. Those tax cuts were due to kick in in April 2018, but did not under the new Government.

And in a strange move in May last year, Labour posted a fake text conversation between then-prime minister Bill English and Amy Adams, attacking National's announcement it would build 34,000 homes in Auckland over 10 years.

Of that, 13,500 were planned to be social housing and 20,600 would be sold on the open market, some priced at what Adams said would be "affordable" levels for first-home buyers, and others.

RECENT QUESTIONABLE CLAIMS

Labour has spoken extensively about how the former National Government underfunded, even "neglected" hospitals and schools.

National actually increased funding for school property to $5b in 2008, and in 2017 allocated a further $4b to school property.

The Government has also said its $76.2m boost to frontline family violence services is the first funding increase in 10 years.

But National invested $37.2m in family violence in last year's budget. The bulk of the funding, $22.4m, was allocated to extending the Integrated Safety Response (ISR) pilots for another two years, as well as whanau-centred interventions, the community action fund, and the community-based gang action plan.

And in 2016, National introduced a $132m package of reforms to overhaul family violence laws and the way the system prevents and responds to family violence.

National Party social development spokeswoman Louise Upston said investing in initiatives to combat family violence had always been a priority for National, but it was about ensuring the services were targeted and had proven outcomes to ensure money was always well-spent, to maximum effectiveness.

National might not have poured that money directly into frontline services, but to say it did not fund services and programmes focused on family violence was incorrect.

* This article has been updated from an earlier version