Politicians enter final day of campaigning as controversial NZ First candidate keeps head down
New Zealand First candidate Michael Laws will not feature on his weekday talkback show today as his future as an MP appears set to be decided by the party’s board.
It comes as political parties make their last attempts to win votes on the final day of campaigning before election day tomorrow.
Laws has faced significant political backlash after comments about the Opportunity Party’s female candidates, comparing them to primary school teachers, commenting on another’s hemline, calling them “stern” and “princesses” and questioning what their face would look like “post-sex”.
Leader Winston Peters, who said he and the party were “brassed off” at the comments, confirmed NZ First’s board would meet after the election to discuss Laws’ future, given he is sixth on the party’s list and almost guaranteed to become an MP on current polling.
Laws said he supported Peters’ decision and would accept the board’s call. He was unclear when speaking to the Herald about whether he still wanted to be an MP, although said he was dedicated to the party’s “aims and ideals”.
Laws wouldn’t feature on his usual weekday talkback show on The Platform today, citing a broken arm that “requires attention”. He has appeared on his show each day this week.
The Herald asked NZ First whether it had spoken with Laws about refraining from appearing publicly after his comments. A party spokesperson referred the Herald to its reporting of Laws’ injury but did not directly answer the question.
National leader Christopher Luxon has ruled out Laws being a minister in a future Government, repeating on Thursday that the language used by the NZ First candidate was “disgusting”.
“There’s no place for him in my Cabinet, in our Government and if you want less of that, it’s pretty simple, party vote National,” Luxon told reporters.
Asked about National’s compatibility with NZ First, Luxon said that while they and Act were different parties, they had proven over the past three years they could work together.
“What you have to do in an MMP world is you have to find trade-offs and you have to find the common ground and we proved that we could do that over the last three years,” Luxon said, pointing to areas of alignment such as the economy, law and order and public services.
But Labour leader Chris Hipkins zeroed in on Luxon not ruling out working with NZ First, which National would likely need to return to power.
Hipkins said NZ First “has been an absolute stain on the quality of political discussion in New Zealand over the last few years” and he didn’t regret ruling out Labour from working with the party.
National perked up over the latest Treasury financial statement showing the Government’s books are in better shape than previously forecast.
The data showed the deficit at the end of September was $2.8 billion (using the operating balance before gains and losses, excluding ACC metric), about $1.3b smaller than expected.
This was partly because of a higher tax take and lower expenses.
Luxon and National finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis said it showed their party’s economic plan was working.
“It reinforces recent surveys showing economic optimism and hiring intentions are increasing, and backs up other evidence that proves our economy is gaining strength,” Willis said.
“Exports are booming, the manufacturing sector is on a tear, and economic growth is outpacing countries like Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
“New Zealand is navigating its way through global uncertainty better than most of its international counterparts and Kiwis can look forward to the benefits flowing through to households if we stay the course.”
Hipkins said it could come down to timing.
“There’s fluctuation from month to month on that. One of the things there is, there’s higher tax revenue and lower government spending,” he said.
“We’ll want to interrogate that as to how much of that lower government spending is just timing because government spending does fluctuate based on timing.”
Friday is the final day of campaigning before the election day blackout. Luxon and the National team will complete their North Island roadie, with the party’s bus travelling from Rotorua to the leader’s electorate of Botany.
Hipkins and Labour will focus their efforts on Wellington and the wider Hutt Valley region, including the leader’s electorate of Remutaka. Peters is expected to vote in Auckland, while Act leader David Seymour will host a final election day rally and conduct public walkabouts in Auckland. The Green Party co-leaders will also be making public visits in Auckland.
The latest data from the Electoral Commission shows 1,440,840 people had voted by the end of November 4. That compares with 1,174,644 on the equivalent day before the 2023 election.