Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon shared a rare moment of camaraderie in the House during question time this afternoon.
The political rivals put aside their differences, just for a moment, as one of them celebrates a special day.
The session started like any other, with National's leader asking the prime minister a standard question.
"Does he stand by all his Government's statements and actions?" Luxon queried.
However, Hipkins response was slightly different than usual.
"Mr Speaker yes, particularly my decision to wish the member a very happy birthday," he said.
The platitude was met with "awws" from the House then a round of applause for Luxon's 53rd birthday.
The political goodwill didn't last long though, with business as usual resumed when Luxon turned the questioning to the Government's record on inflation.
"Does he agree his rampant spending of an extra billion dollars spending each and every week has contributed to inflation in New Zealand now being higher than all the major Asia/Pacific economies including the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Japan," Luxon asked.
Hipkins disagreed with the inference.
"Actually if the member looks at the current spending over the forecast period Government spending as a proportion of GDP is declining and the most recent Government spending numbers indicate that Government spending is down."
It comes as annual inflation figures out today show the third drop in a row from a record peak last year.
Stats NZ has released its latest measure of inflation — a 6.0% annual change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the June 2023 quarter.
The quarterly inflation rate in the quarter was 1.1%.
Today's figures give greater certainty that inflation has finally peaked after hitting a 32-year high back in the June 2022 quarter.
Stats NZ consumer prices senior manager Nicola Growden said: "Prices are still increasing at rates not seen since the 1990s but are rising at a lower rate than the last few quarters."
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