With 17 days left, can either Chris break the deadlock? – The Front Page
Over three debates, National’s Christopher Luxon and Labour’s Chris Hipkins have gone head-to-head, trading blows over the economy, the cost of living and who deserves the keys to the Beehive’s ninth-floor offices.
The 1News Leaders’ Debate kicked things off on October 6, then the two met for the NZ Herald debate on October 14, and finally the Stuff match-up on October 20.
Last night’s debate marks the end of their final face-to-face battle of the election campaign.
Their last match-up came after the latest 1News Verian poll showed National hitting 32%, up from 28% last week, and Labour slipping to 27%.
But they’re not the only ones fighting for a say; minor parties are stepping up and reminding us how much influence they could, and probably will, have after November 7.
Newstalk ZB political reporter Ethan Griffiths told The Front Page that in his opinion, the leaders’ debates felt a bit “ho-hum”.
“It’s an interesting election, right? Cost of living remains front and centre. Health is up there as an issue. Law and order has very much sort of fallen off as a major issue.
“It’s roles reversed from last time. It’s Chris Luxon this time who is defending a record and Chris Hipkins who’s prosecuting; three years ago it was the polar opposite.
“I think it’s fair to say Chris Hipkins is the better debater. That is probably natural. He’s been in Parliament for 20 years.
“But at the same time, Chris Luxon, I think, has been a markedly better performer than he was three years ago. I think that says a lot about the three years of experience that he’s had in the job,” he said.
In terms of standout moments in all three performances, Griffiths said there wasn’t one.
“If you think about New Zealand political debates and you think about the moments that people remember. There was the 1984 debate where Robert Muldoon said to David Lange, ‘I love you, Mr Lange’, at the end of the debate
“Everyone just looks back on now and thinks, ‘God, that was him almost conceding the election by saying that’.
“In 2011, there was ‘Show me the money’, with Phil Goff and John Key. Everyone talks about that ad nauseam.
“Now, these debates, I mean, I don’t know whether it’s because both leaders are just a little bit ho-hum ... But there wasn’t a slam-dunk moment.
“There was a mistake which got quite a lot of attention from Chris Luxon when he was talking about minimum wage and claimed that he’d increased the minimum wage in line with inflation for the three years in government, which is just factually incorrect.
“But there hasn’t been any monumental moment, If you’re going to pin anything on it, I think that the most surprising thing was just how strong Chris Luxon has been on education. That is Chris Hipkins’ bread and butter. He was Education Minister, and I think it’s fair to say Chris Luxon destroyed him on education in all three of those debates,” Griffiths said.
Other notable debates were Stuff’s Kingmakers’ Debate on October 1, the 1News Multi-Party Debate on October 13, and the Herald’s Future of New Zealand forum on October 7.
The Powerbrokers’ Debate airs tonight on nzherald.co.nz, the Herald mobile app, Three and ThreeNow, from 7pm. You can also listen live on Newstalk ZB.
The leaders of Act, the Greens, New Zealand First and Opportunity will face questions from moderator Ryan Bridge about their priorities and bottom lines.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- Issues and policy
- Minor parties’ growing power
- Town halls vs social media
- The final 17 days.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.