The final election debate: Five key moments that cut through
The final televised election debate featured voters' questions and key exchanges on science funding, emigration, tax brackets, vaping, and hypothetical threats.Summary
The Q+A People's Debate was the last major televised event of the New Zealand election campaign, with leaders and MPs from National, Labour, the Greens, ACT, NZ First, Opportunity, and Te Pāti Māori answering public questions. Key moments included a sharp exchange between Nicola Willis and Qiulae Wong over science funding, where Willis defended cuts while Wong advocated investing in research; a discussion on Kiwis moving to Australia, with Shane Jones promoting mining and Chlöe Swarbrick dismissing his approach; rare agreement on issues like not adjusting tax brackets for inflation, restricting fireworks sales, and opposing nuclear energy; personal anecdotes about vaping and nicotine tablets from Kieran McAnulty; and unusual questions about a hypothetical Donald Trump demanding the South Island and state media bias, with Jones and Maipi-Clarke commenting on media fairness.
(Source：1News)
