Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins upped the ante in the final Leaders’ Debate tonight taking a much more aggressive stance than earlier in the campaign.
He regularly challenged National’s Christopher Luxon, including talking over him multiple times, prompting Luxon to repeatedly ask him to "calm down".
Hipkins even landed a blow over a National MP's bullying scandal in response to Luxon saying the Labour leader had failed to control his Cabinet since taking over as Prime Minister this year.
Those jibes came against a background of disagreements on taxation, benefits and coalition partners during the TVNZ debate.
Luxon reiterated his conviction that a coalition government of the left bloc would prove disastrous for the country.
"I am standing on a principle that I do not want to see Labour, Te Pāti Māori and the Greens in power for another three years," he said.
"We want a strong, two-party coalition arrangement with National and ACT, and as I said, I’ll pick up the phone with New Zealand First in order to avoid the chaos that will ensue with Labour, Te Pāti Māori and the Greens."
Hipkins countered that the "real chaos would be you trying to deal with Winston Peters and David Seymour around the Cabinet table – they’d be running circles around you".
Luxon was doubtful, telling Hipkins: "No disrespect, Chris – you haven’t been able to manage your own Cabinet. You lost five Cabinet ministers in this year alone."
Hipkins said the departures were due to his "very high standards" for his ministers.
"When they don’t meet them, they don’t continue in their jobs," he said.
Hipkins continued: "People in glass houses shouldn’t be throwing stones. None of my MPs beat people up with a bed leg."
The jab was in reference to Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell, who was accused of bullying a fellow student during his time at King's College.
Hipkins told Luxon that, "none of my MPs beat someone up with a bed leg". (Source: 1News)
'Just calm down'
The debate started off with a bang, as moderator Jessica Mutch McKay revealed the results of the latest 1News Verian poll's trust numbers.
The poll asked voters which party leader they trusted more, with 43% saying they trusted Hipkins more, and 33% in favour of Luxon. The remaining 24% were unsure or preferred not to say.
Despite the lower numbers, Luxon remained optimistic.
"Trust is important, and I continue to earn the trust of New Zealanders by actually following through and doing what I say, and delivering results and outcomes for them. That’s what New Zealand needs right now," he said.
"There’s been too much talk, too much going backwards. We need to go forwards with positivity, ambition, aspiration – get our mojo back, as I keep saying. I’m going to bring that."
Hipkins countered that more needed to be done to earn trust than "a whole load of slogans with no substance behind it".
"You earn people’s trust by getting out there, being upfront and honest with them every day. I know that there’s no such thing as a perfect government and there’ll be days where things don’t go according to plan. I will always own that. I will always front up, I will always try and answer people’s questions and so I think that is why people do trust me more than they trust him," he said.
Hipkins and Luxon go head-to-head shortly before the polls close. (Source: 1News)
When asked why a quarter of the voters trusted neither of the two leaders, Luxon attributed it to Labour’s "very negative, very personal, very attacking campaign".
Hipkins labelled the claims "just ridiculous", pointing to an independent analysis showing National’s campaign had been 95% negative.
"Now Chris, just calm down," Luxon replied.
"It has been a very personal, negative campaign and I think the reality is, Chris doesn’t have a record to run on after six years."
Hipkins appeared incredulous as he again pointed to the analysis, saying Luxon "spent the whole year bagging the country".
"He went overseas and said that New Zealanders were 'wet, whiny and miserable'. I will stand up our track record of positivity against his any day of the week," he said.
Luxon countered, "The only thing that’s wet, whiny and miserable has been the Labour government. There’s nothing wrong with New Zealand or New Zealanders".
When asked if they trusted each other, Hipkins emphatically denied trusting the National leader.
"If you look at his tax swindle, for example, he hasn’t been upfront with New Zealanders. It’s clear that not many New Zealanders will get the full benefit from his tax cut but every New Zealander will pay for it," he said.
Luxon was equally distrustful of his Labour counterpart, saying he "doesn’t deliver".
"He cannot deliver. It’s not in his DNA."
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