Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins face off during the third leaders' debate. Photos / Stacy Squire
Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins face off during the third leaders' debate. Photos / Stacy Squire
Opinion by Audrey Young,Simon Wilson,Claire Trevett,Fran O'Sullivan
Audrey Young, NZ Herald political editor
Winner: Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Ardern barely put a foot wrong before a lively town hall audience in Christchurch. She clearly thrived from the frequent applause of the crowd. She was measured. It was an accomplished performance in most areas except housing. The facts areoverwhelmingly against her on that one but otherwise she won hands down. The debate is likely to create momentum for her, if that were even needed.
Judith Collins started off badly. She seemed even a little nervous. Her bad day with ill-disciplined MPs was about to get worse. The large town hall venue and fairly hostile audience did not suit her. She struck the wrong tone. She was hectoring, negative and shouty. There is a fine line between being strong and aggressive. She judged it wrong this time. Her messages were subsumed by the style.
The format of The Press debate leaves more room for interaction between the two leaders than other debates but their sparring added nothing to the event.
Jacinda Ardern speaks during the third leaders' debate. Photo / Stacy Squire
Simon Wilson, NZ Herald senior writer
Winner: Jacinda Ardern
An easy win for Ardern. She came out confident and coherent: Government is complex, we're making progress, we want to build back better, in tourism and elsewhere. And she hurt Collins on the $8 billion hole in her budget plan.
Ardern wasn't always convincing: slow progress is hard to defend. But she did open up a fundamental difference: for Collins, the economic crisis means climate change and everything else takes a back seat; for Ardern, the rebuild must address threats like climate change or "we'll be left behind".
Collins came out smug and shouty but who wants to hear that? Hey! she shouted. Haha, she shouted, and threw her head back and laughed and clapped. After half an hour she dialled it back, but Ardern was forceful without shouting and Collins didn't know how to deal with it.
They had a great moment together, both acknowledging how hard it is to address child abuse. And a bad moment together too: bickering over housing, neither of them with a record to be proud of.
In the end, Collins had her jobs mantra but it was narrowly focused. Ardern pitched her party as the safe pair of hands with its eye on that better future. Serious and hopeful. It seemed right.
Judith Collins during the third leaders' debate. Photo / Stacy Squire
Claire Trevett, NZ Herald senior political writer
Winner: Jacinda Ardern
Judith Collins had a bad day on the hustings, and it showed. Her introductory statement was good – but she appeared out of sorts and defensive for the segments on Covid-19 and the economy.
It did not help that it coincided with Ardern dispensing with what Collins would call her "waffle" and gunned it for National in the first half - trying to demolish National's Covid-19 and economy policies.
Both shamelessly mis-represented the other's positions, but Ardern did it better. She also capitalised on National's day of woe in her final statement, to highlight her own stability.
Collins eventually warmed up and got some good knocks in, calling out Ardern's record compared to the rhetoric on housing and energy. However, she interrupted a bit too much this time and seemed under-prepared on some obvious Christchurch questions, such as the DHBs.
There was an unexpected moment of comity over "long live the Queen", given monarchist Judith Collins thought New Zealand would become a republic soon after the Queen died, while republican Jacinda Ardern did not.
The third debate was held in Christchurch. Photo / Joe Johnson
Fran O'Sullivan, NZME, head of business
Winner: Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins brought their A games to the Press debate.
They were fierce, considered, petulant, inspirational and even unifying when it came to punting for a four-year parliamentary term.
In this third leaders' debate there was more differentiation on policy.
But a quick defining moment came when Ardern was asked what she would have done differently with Covid-19 if she knew back in March what she knows now. "Possibly gone earlier".
Collins went hard and early reminding Ardern, National was more serious about the risks before her. This is true - if lost in the sands of time. But it was Simon Bridges who made that run. Ardern pounced: "Every leader of the National Party has had a different position on this."
Differing approaches to the economy, fiscal policy and climate change.
A generational moment came when each was asked to define what "woke" meant to them. Collins "lot of nonsense". Ardern: "extreme self-awareness".
Collins was still scrapping when it came time to wrap. Ardern was prepared, polished, prime ministerial.
