Minor-party leaders go head to head in an energetic TVNZ debate, with tax, health funding and race sparking heated exchanges

A lively, energetic debate saw political party leaders scrap it out, with sparks flying during Tuesday's TVNZ multi-party debate, hosted by Tova O'Brien.

Party leaders were allowed to “squabble in the ad breaks”, O'Brien said. 

And squabble they did. With electric energy between Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick and ACT leader David Seymour, sparring over the way ACT has proposed to fund its cancer hospital (with $2 billion capital costs funded via public-private partnership financing, donations, existing Crown health investment, and other private capital).

"We could just implement a wealth tax so that we don't have to have our public services relying on the charity and therefore the discretion, the choices, of incredibly wealthy people about who survives and who does not," Swarbrick said.

Seymour pushed back saying: "If you look at the history of this country, people have got together and built things: schools, hospitals, right since the first settlers arrived in this country. Through taxation and public investment."

Swarbrick piped up saying: “He’s talking about the Hunger Games."

Energy was also high between NZ First leader Winston Peters and Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong. Wong spoke of her party's promise that Peters would not be Foreign Affairs Minister due to comments made earlier this year to Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan. 

Responding to Xu-Nan who asked if Peters was vaccinated, Peters earlier this year said: “I noticed you came here five minutes ago. Go back to your own country". 

Wong on Tuesday said it was "clearly racist, and we cannot support a government that is making that kind of remarks with our foreign minister making racist remarks".

"Excuse me," Peters said. "This person's been in Parliament for five minutes, and I said to him, 'Comparing our democracy, why don't you go back where you came from and it's working there? That point is understood by all the Chinese."

"I'll tell you how it's not racist because [Xu-Nan] came out and talked to me about it. You don't know about this conversation, do you?" he asked Wong. 

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi and Seymour also sparred. Waititi saying they need to "make sure that the recommendations from the Waitangi Tribunal are binding on the Crown". 

Seymour said that would be a "recipe for a continuously and endlessly divided society".

The first policy that will make a difference

Asked what the first tangible policy they would deliver to make life better for New Zealanders, ACT leader David Seymour said to remove tax on qualifying investment earnings inside KiwiSaver. Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said his tax reform plan to create a tax-free threshold for the first $30,000 people earn. 

NZ First leader Winston Peters said his party would split the energy gentailers and supermarket duopoly, Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong said they would empower the Commerce Commission to carry out its supermarket, banking and electricity sector recommendations, while Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said a publicly owned supermarket chain KiwiMart. 

If they could hold a referendum on anything, what is it?

• Seymour - Four year term 
• Waititi - Entrenching Te Tiriti
• Peters - Four year term
• Wong - Superannuation
• Swarbrick - Wealth tax

Who to call and honours

Wong said she would reach out to National Party leader Christopher Luxon if his party won the biggest support after the election. 

She said National would need to commit to Opportunity's bottom lines to work with them. Luxon has ruled out working with Opportunity.

Peters, who with one more term would be New Zealand's longest serving politician ever, said it did not mean a thing.

"The reality is, it's a privilege to be a member of parliament. You're a servant of the people, and in the end of the day... the people who are master here are the voters. It is not us."