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An angry Labor leader, Jacinda Ardern, left the bureaucratic speech for a second leaders’ debate that was peppered with irritating exchanges and pushed rivals to make new promises on climate emergencies and recover the wage subsidy.
“I take a deep breath,” Ardern told Collins after a particularly tense exchange about each party’s housing record late Wednesday night. Newshub Leaders debate moderated by correspondent Patrick Gower.
The Labor leader from the beginning rejected Collins, who in return told Ardern that “it was your turn” and asked him to use “manners.”
It was a stark departure from the televised debate a week earlier, in which Ardern was unwilling to respond directly to Collins’ interjections and criticism of the Labor-led government.
NEWSHUB / Things
Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins square off in Newshub’s second leaders debate.
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The debate covered hot topics: the Covid-19 response, rising house prices, disputed land in Ihumātao, and the “right to silence,” which allows people to withhold information during police investigations into child abuse. .
The responses sharpened the divide between the two centrist politicians amid an election that has lacked strong ideological political arguments.
Collins emphasized his promises to crack down on the growing number of gangs and oppose the referendum on the legalization of recreational cannabis.
She was adamant that she would not make a deal over land in Ihumātao, or with NZ First leader Winston Peters, who she said was “irrelevant”.
Ardern did not choose a side in the referendum, but for the first time he admitted to smoking it, but only a long time ago.
She promised to declare a climate emergency if elected, something she has only tentatively supported before, and would continue to seek an unspecified resolution in Ihumātao. She backed her government’s $ 11 million infrastructure spending on the Taranaki Green School, a decision widely criticized by her government’s supporters.
There were fewer differences between the leaders when the evening opened with a series of hypotheses: A Covid-19 outbreak was discovered in Christchurch on Christmas Eve, what do you do?
Ardern leaned on his “real life” command of the country’s Covid-19 response, saying it would shut down the city at Covid-19 alert level 3 and place the country at alert level 2, putting “very unfortunately “restrictions on Christmas gatherings.
Collins said a closure would be needed in Christchurch, however she would be reluctant to extend the restrictions. She said the party’s proposed “Border Force” and the deployment of bluetooth contact tracing technology would be ready by Christmas, shortening the blockade.
Ardern rejected the promise of a border force, saying the virus was “more complicated” than Collins suggested.
NEWSHUB / Things
Newshub’s Patrick Gower hosted the Newshub Leaders’ Debate, which addressed several hot topics for the 2020 election.
Neither of them had a “plan B” in case a Covid-19 vaccine was never produced. Ardern said: “You can see what plan B is, you just have to look at other countries in Europe, plan B coexists with Covid, people lose their lives.”
Collins appeared to announce a new policy in response to a “moral question” about the wage subsidy being adopted by large companies like the Warehouse Group, which received $ 67.7 million.
While he supported the wage subsidy, he said that “unfortunately the rules were wrong” and that he would get the money back from large companies that did not need it.
NEWSHUB / Things
National Party leader Judith Collins said Labor leader Jacinda Ardern was “good communication” but would keep her promises.
“We may have to change the law, I would have thought we would have support in Parliament for this,” he said.
Ardern said the companies had followed the rules.
When asked if either of them wanted house prices to go down, Ardern said he didn’t want them to go any higher: “It’s not sustainable.”
Collins said “in some cases they will have to come down,” touting the former national government’s work to ease building regulations in earthquake-ravaged Christchurch to build houses.
NEWSHUB / Things
Labor leader Jacinda Ardern was notably more willing to compromise with her opponent in the leaders’ debate on Wednesday night.
In the middle of an exchange about climate change, Ardern asked Collins his climate plan.
“What for dear?” Collins said in response.
There were moments of laughter, with Gower questioning both leaders about what they thought of each other’s “marks.” Ardern said Collins was “very assertive in a debate.”
“Damn it,” Collins replied. She, in turn, described Ardern as an excellent communicator.
When asked if she would also like to be on the cover of fashion magazine, Collins laughed at what any politician would do.
There were also moments of agreement between the two leaders.
They both said New Zealand governments should have terms of four years, not three. Both said “not yet” to a question about whether New Zealand should be officially renamed Aotearoa.
