The campaign chairs for both National and Labour got heated in a fiery post-leaders debate panel, each claiming their boss had won hearts and minds.
Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins went head-to-head for the first time this election cycle in last night's TVNZ leaders debate. The National and Labour leaders clashed on multiple issues, including the economy, education, and health. At the end of the debate, a panel of undecided voters backed Hipkins more than Luxon.
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National Party campaign chair Simeon Brown told Breakfast his boss "turned up with substance", and didn't pay much mind to what the undecided voters said.
"He talked about the work that this Government's been doing fixing the basics and building a future for New Zealanders, and undoing the mess left behind by the Labour Party.
"Chris Hipkins turned up with lots of slogans and lots of complaints and lots of tax and debt, which is all they're going to do if they win."
Labour's campaign chair Kieran McAnulty believed Hipkins won the debate.
"The 100 people that were undecided upstairs in the TVNZ studio, the question that they were posed was: 'Has this debate swayed your vote?' And 49% of them said, ' Yes, we're now going to vote for Labour', and less than half said, ' Yes, we're going to vote for National'.
"Chris Hipkins was talking about the things that Kiwis care about the most, i.e. the cost of living and has some tangible solutions to that."
The two traded blows on tax, with Brown saying Labour's fiscal plan contained $18 billion in "unfunded promises" and would cost households $2263 a year.
McAnulty fired back, saying: "Chris Luxon said exactly the same stuff last night, and it flopped. So Simeon Brown coming out and repeating the same lies this morning isn't going to work, and people are waking up to this."
He then accused National of "telling lies", pointing to a flyer that the Advertising Standards Authority partly upheld a complaint against.
"Can we just move on and start talking about the solutions that Kiwis care about? Well, that's what Chris Hipkins did last night, and that's why he won."
Brown responded that McAnulty didn't want to talk about tax because "every time New Zealanders hear about Labour's capital gains tax and their mates' other taxes, which they want to impose on you, New Zealanders are concerned about what that means for their cost of living".
"And the reality is, they have an $18 billion unfunded bill."
McAnulty fired back: "It's not true, please stop telling lies."
In last night's debate, Luxon continued to be pressed about whether he would work with Opportunity to stay in Government after the election.
Brown echoed Luxon's statements on Opportunity, saying: "We're not going to work with parties which want to increase taxes."
McAnulty responded: "Another thing that was mentioned last night in the analysis afterwards is that Kiwis are sick of politicians not answering the question?
"You had a number of examples last night when Christopher Luxon wouldn't do it, and you've got examples here. Simeon Brown's just come in and is just saying whatever he wants to say, regardless of the question."
McAnulty used Luxon's claim that 2100 extra nurses, 1600 of them full-time equivalents, and more than 900 doctors had been hired since he took office as evidence.
"He refused to answer because he knows the answer is 54.
"New Zealanders are sick and tired of politicians treating them like they're thick, and they actually want some answers, and they got answers from Hipkins last night, and they got no answers from Luxon."
Brown said Luxon was "incredibly clear", pointing to his boss' promise to keep an hour of reading, writing and maths in schools. While Hipkins said he wanted to leave this to schools' discretion, Brown claimed Hipkins wanted to remove it.
"Stop misleading the country," McAnulty said. "Now answer the question about nurses."
When things calmed down, both anticipated a close result on election day, each predicting their party would form the next Government.
"I think, especially after last night, people are sick and tired of Chris Luxon," McAnulty said. "They're sick and tired of the lies of Simeon Brown and them not answering questions. I think we'll be in a position to form a government."
Brown said it would be a "close election".
"Only a party vote for National will ensure we have a centre-right government to keep this country moving in the right direction."
'This feels like déjà vu'
Political commentator Esther Robinson told Breakfast that neither leader truly prevailed. (Source: Breakfast)
Political commentator Esther Robinson told Breakfast that last night's debate felt similar to others in previous election cycles – with neither leader truly prevailing.
"This feels like déjà vu," she said. "We've got the same topics and the similar kind of answers.
"I think the question really is not who won the debate, but whether National and Labour are able to bring more voters back from those minor parties. I'm not sure last night did enough to do that."
1News Political reporter Benedict Collins said both leaders "kind of held their own" in the debate.
1News political reporter Benedict Collins said both leaders had strong and weak points in their performances. (Source: Breakfast)
"I thought Chris Hipkins came out of the blocks really, really strongly. If that had been a 100-metre race, he would have won that debate.
"But then I thought Christopher Luxon kind of got better and better, stronger through the middle of the debate, and they both kind of had areas I felt that they really dominated."
He said Hipkins "seemed to be very good" with quick-fire questions, while Luxon grew and was stronger on points like education.
Brad Olsen said both leaders' answers might not have been what businesses were looking for. (Source: Breakfast)
For businesses, both leaders' answers might not have been what they were looking for, according to economist Brad Olsen.
"Be it that LNG facility, be it the investment boost, there is a feeling, I think, amongst businesses watching the leaders' debate last night that despite all of the talk of trying to be more bipartisan, there's still a lot of potential flip-flopping there in terms of, you know, one party wanting one policy, another party looking at another," he told Breakfast.
Olsen said the Labour Party had some questions to answer, particularly around land transport funding.
"The fact that they haven't included increases to fuel excise duty and road user charges, and that does leave a pretty big hole in potentially the land transport fund."
But he said National's lack of a fiscal plan also created issues.
"It's pretty hard for anyone to figure out where they're going because we don't have it."
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