Minor party leaders face off in multi-party debate

Five minor party leaders participated in a multi-party debate on TVNZ on Tuesday night. The participants were David Seymour of ACT, Chlöe Swarbrick of the Green Party, Winston Peters of New Zealand First, Rawiri Waititi of Te Pāti Māori, and Qiulae Wong of Opportunity.

The debate followed the release of a 1News Verian poll, which identified Opportunity as a potential kingmaker. The poll showed the Greens remained in a strong position, while Opportunity was polling above the 5% threshold required to enter Parliament.

Qiulae Wong faced scrutiny over Opportunity's proposed Citizen's Income, a universal basic income of $19,400 for residents and citizens aged 18 and over.

How it developed

• Tue 13 Oct, 8:45pmThis report detailed specific policy clashes regarding Opportunity's Citizen's Income and land tax proposals.
• Tue 13 Oct, 9:32pmThis report highlighted specific verbal exchanges between leaders, including a comment from Waititi to Peters.
• Wed 14 Oct, 8:08amThis report included analysis from political commentators regarding which leaders stayed on message.

Where reports differ

• One report described the debate as occurring on Tuesday night, while another referred to it as occurring 'last night'.

Compiled from reports by Stuff, 1News, NZ Herald and The Post.