Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Brigitte Morten: Political Commentator unpacks the first leaders debate between Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins

Transcript

Brigitte Morten: Political Commentator unpacks the first leaders debate between Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: To the leaders debate, Chris versus Chris. Artificial intelligence, health
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and education were big talkers.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: We were telling kids to stay home when they were
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: sick and school attendance really suffers as a result.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: There was a need to get kids back.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I didn't interrupt you. I wanted to get kids back
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: to school as well and we didn't even need to
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: focus on getting sick. back to school, but we've also
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: got to focus on making.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Sure that what we're learning.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Is relevant to the world that they're going to be
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: going into.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: And of course, they clashed over fiscal plans.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Chris, it is unfunded. You've got $ 3. 1 billion in your
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: financial fiscal plan.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: No, it's not. Stop saying things that aren't true. This
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: is why people don't trust you.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: No, Chris.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Because they know they can't believe what you tell them.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: And we're going to prioritise that funding. It's in our
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: fiscal plan. You would be able to make the same
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: claim if you actually had a fiscal plan.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Christopher Luxon reckoned that life is getting easier for Kiwis.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: Some New Zealanders are feeling it very strongly in their country.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Some New Zealanders still are not, and there's more.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: For us to do.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: But the way you have to deal with it is
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: you have to understand the economy.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: There were some chippy flip-flops. You criticised National's cell phone ban.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: You said it would undermine school leadership.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Keep it or scrap it? Keep it.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Oh, great flip-flop.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Good one.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Growing three times faster than the number of police. Yes,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: we will keep it.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Christopher Luxon was absolutely crystal clear on top.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: You are 100% ruling out opportunity of any support deal,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: no matter what.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: I have been crystal clear with who we could or
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: couldn't work with. I've laid that out from the very
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: beginning of the year. I've been clear about opportunity. The
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: big opportunity is actually to vote for a National Party.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: If you want National Party ministers around that Cabinet table
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: rather than any other coalition partner, make sure you vote
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: for National.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Bridget Morton is a political commentator and joins me now. Hello, Bridget.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Were you not entertained or was it a bit meh?
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: I definitely was entertained. I think what was on show
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: last night was actually two leaders that were very much
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: across the detail and very well prepared for the debate. Ultimately, though,
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: for the debate, they actually needed to convince people to
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: vote for them and not necessarily for some of their
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: potential coalition partners, because that is actually the real problem.
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: aren't staking the ground here. It's not necessarily red versus blue, Chris,
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: but ultimately how much of the party vote can those
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: major parties actually attract to this election?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Yes, the tail is definitely wagging the dog. And after
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: that poll, of course, we see that Topp is still
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: in a position to be a kingmaker, but the Prime
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Minister was very strong about Topp.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's to demonstrate the fact that,
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: you know, if you're looking at the left block at
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: the moment, that poll demonstrates the only way that Hipkins
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: could actually form a government would be a four-way, you know,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: would have to be to party, Māori, Green, opportunity and Labour.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: I think most people would think that that was going
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: to be chaotic and difficult to manage. And there's significant
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: numbers of promises in terms of funding and new taxes
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: across that block that will make it difficult for them
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: to come to a coalition without Hipkins having to give
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: away significant grounds.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: TVNZ's result had Hipkins winning on 49%, Luxon on 24%.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I'm getting texts the whole time saying, well, obviously the
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: audience was stacked. Do you think the TVNZ result was accurate?
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: And who do you think won?
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: Well, I think the big factor there was actually the
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: undecided factor. And I think we're seeing that coming through,
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: particularly in the polls as well, that there's still a
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: lot of uncertainty out there. We're only a couple of
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: weeks actually out from voting actually opening. And for a
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: lot of people, there's a lot of soft vote. They
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: sort of generally know, I think, whether they're sort of
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: going right or left. They're not really sure where they're
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: putting that vote. I think that was what was reflected
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: in that audience poll last night.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Good stuff. And I thank you so much for your
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: time today, Bridget Morton.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:35
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• 3:38
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