National Party leader Christopher Luxon says rival Chris Hipkins' bout of Covid-19 is "probably the only thing he’s been positive about in the whole campaign", just 10 days out from the election.
The Labour leader was forced to pull out of the Press Leaders' Debate with Luxon in Christchurch, scheduled for Tuesday, after testing positive for Covid-19 on Sunday.
Labour campaign chair Megan Woods on Monday accused the National leader of "chickening out" by not making himself available for the debate on an alternative date, while National campaign chair Chris Bishop said the party had offered for deputy leader Nicola Willis to debate Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis.
Luxon defended his decision on Breakfast this morning to drop out of the debate rather than reschedule the event after Hipkins fell ill.
"We built the whole week around doing the press debate in Christchurch, we’ve got 10 days to go until the election and we’ve got lots of other places and a pretty full schedule to go forward from there," he said.
"We’ve got a TVNZ debate which we will be looking forward to so I just say to you if Chris Hipkins wants to debate someone, I’d just encourage him to do a Zoom debate with Ingrid Leary and David Parker and they can debate wealth tax because they’re diametrically opposed about that. That would be a good debate to see."
While it was "a shame" Hipkins came down with the coronavirus, he said: "It’s probably the only thing he’s been positive about in the whole campaign, to be honest with you."
The Labour leader criticised National's Christopher Luxon for not prioritising the event. (Source: Breakfast)
Luxon also ruled out the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori as coalition partners, reiterating his preference for a National-ACT coalition.
"We’ve ruled out Te Pāti Māori and the Greens last year when they ruled us out and so effectively, that’s just not something that’s going to work," he said.
"My preference, I’ve said before, is a very strong National Party vote. Beyond that, my strong preference is to work with ACT in a very stable, strong coalition government – a two-party coalition government – and that’s why I’m saying to New Zealanders, 'early voting has started. If you want change, you actually have to step up to the plate and vote for change'. The New Zealand voters are in charge of what happens from here."
While Greens co-leader James Shaw told Q+A on Sunday it would be rude not to answer the phone should National come ringing after the election, Luxon was emphatically against working with the party.
"The Green Party have ruled us out. We won’t be working with them," he said.
"Our intention is to drive a National Party vote and as I said, my strong preference is to work with a National-ACT coalition. I think we have worked well in the past together, David Seymour and I have a good personal relationship and we’ll be able to work constructively through differences we have to give New Zealanders stability but most importantly, to get things done for the New Zealand people which is what they need us to do."
Luxon was also against working with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, calling the party "the last resort".
"Well that’s not my preference, right? That’s not my preference but faced with the last resort, of actually having to pick up the phone to avoid three years of Labour, Te Pāti Māori and the Greens, I said I would try.
"New Zealand First hasn’t gone with National in 27 years and we all remember 2017. That’s why I’m saying to New Zealanders – voting is open.
"Step up to the plate if you want change. You actually have to vote for the change; you can’t leave it for others to do."
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