2020 Election: Jacinda Ardern v Judith Collins in Television Leaders Debate with Patrick Gower

The gloves were removed in the fierce and spirited debate between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and National Party leader Judith Collins last night.

The fierce fight began with tense questions about the Covid-19 outbreak, the economy, whether the healthcare system is racist, child abuse and housing, but the couple seemed to relax as the debate progressed.

It came with a commitment from both of them to review Pharmac’s funding decisions and ensure that all schools had gender-neutral restrooms available.

And it came with heated and memorable exchanges with Ardern directly asking Collins what his plan for climate change was and Collins responding, “What for, dear?” Collins later admitted that he thought the Law’s leader, David Seymour, would be an “excellent” deputy prime minister in his government, which he encountered a “jeepers” from Ardern.

And Ardern eventually admitted to smoking cannabis “a long time ago,” but continued to refuse to reveal how he was going to vote in the referendum.

The 90-minute MediaWorks Leaders ‘Debate, hosted by Patrick Gower, was the campaign leaders’ second debate and got off to a fiery start after Collins won a coin flip and had the first opportunity to answer questions. .

The first round focused on the Covid-19 response and the opening of the border and travel bubbles.

Collins wanted a transtasman bubble with Australia for Christmas as long as there was no community broadcast, while Ardern did not want to give an exact date, noting that there had been “enormous pressure” to open the Opposition borders.

Tensions escalated as the debate turned to the Pacific islands, with Collins saying Samoa closed its borders a month before New Zealand and Ardern chimed in saying New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to close the border.

“Manners,” Collins replied.

They found common ground by sticking to the elimination plan and both believed there would be a vaccine against the deadly virus.

When asked about the large companies that would receive the wage subsidy, Collins said they would legislate to recover the money from the companies that later reported large profits.

Ardern said he supported the wage subsidy. “We managed to get that money out quickly to save those jobs, making sure it ran on a high-confidence model.

“Some of these companies followed the rules, they just didn’t follow the spirit of fairness.” But the government was cracking down on companies that agreed to the scheme in violation of the rules, Ardern said.

Another point of tension was when the questioning focused on housing.

Ardern admitted that some changes the Labor Party tried to address the housing crisis had not worked.

Gower asked Collins how people could trust his party after house prices rose so steeply during the last National Government.

Collins rejected that, saying that house prices had risen more steeply under Labor and that RMA reform was needed.

Gower asked if either of them wanted house prices to drop.

Ardern said he did not want them to continue increasing. Pressured, she said, “I want them to stabilize.”

Collins said “in some cases they will have to go down,” but people didn’t want to see their property values ​​fall.

And although Ardern eventually categorically admitted to smoking cannabis, he still refused to say how he would vote in the referendum.

“I want the public to decide … whatever they decide, I will implement it,” she said, but the national leader criticized her counterpart for saying “New Zealanders deserve a direct answer, not a word of mouth.”

When asked if the healthcare system was racist, given the health gap between the Maori and the Pākehā, Ardern said it “clearly showed a bias.”

Collins said he wouldn’t say the system is racist, “because that is giving the people an excuse that they are.”

And the debate grew more intense in the climate change round, with the Labor leader saying the climate crisis was an emergency and saying he would declare it in Parliament if he has the numbers after the elections.

As for guns, Collins said the gun register, introduced after the Christchurch mosque killings, would be removed by National as it had already failed “and is clearly impossible.”

On the issue of the land of Ihumātao, Ardern said that a solution needed to be found and that the problem dates back to the previous National Government. Collins said the land was private land, and “I’m not going to pay a penny for it.”

But in the final round of rapid fire, Ardern and Collins found many commonalities: They both wanted schools to have genderless toilets, not tax sugar, make period products freely available in schools, and put up a statue. of Kate Sheppard in Parliament.