OPINION

There has been a huge fuss in the media, especially from Newshub who have led the news two days in a row with the manufactured issue of The Press Debate. Labour stupidly called Christopher Luxon a ‘chicken’, despite the fact that it was Hipkins who bailed on the debate.

Worse still, Chris Hipkins has admitted he is pretty much free next week, meaning his campaign has no meaningful events next week, which is a tale in itself.

Dear old Audrey Young thinks Hipkins has egg on his face:

The hoo-ha over whether Christopher Luxon was obliged to find a new date for The Press leaders’ debate in the Christchurch Town Hall after Chris Hipkins is out of Covid isolation is reminiscent of the old gag about David Frost and Peter Cook.

Frost rang Cook to invite him to dinner to meet Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson before their nuptials and, after consulting his diary, Cook apparently said, “I’m terribly sorry but I appear to be watching television that night.”

It is quite possible Luxon will be otherwise engaged every evening next week, doing regular things such as having dinner, meeting with the campaign team via Zoom – he won’t specify what he’s doing. Changing plans is inconvenient but not impossible. Every notice to the media about a leader’s movements says it is subject to change because election campaigns are always fluid and change according to circumstances.

But Luxon has every reason to avoid another debate. It is not because he is a weaker debater – he is not. He and Hipkins are fairly even. He might actually have won. But when you are ahead in a campaign, there is no good reason to give your opponent the chance of getting ahead.

The conflict over the debate shows beyond any doubt that Hipkins is the underdog. In the past, it has almost always been the Prime Minister who has dictated which debates he or she will take part in, and the Leader of the Opposition who has been grateful to have any shared platform. In this case, it is Hipkins who is desperate to have another shared platform with Luxon. Hipkins has nothing to lose. Luxon has.

The episode has changed the tone of the campaign. Not long after most leaders had expressed sincere sympathy for Hipkins’ illness, Labour took to social media with Luxon dressed in a chicken’s costume – the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Matt McCarten used one for the Alliance during the Taranaki-King Country byelection.

NZ Herald

It was pathetic and shows just how awful and desperate Labour have become. They really are the Nasty Party.

Christopher Luxon quietly mocked them last night by tucking into a KFC dinner.

Good on Luxon. It’s a rubbish story. There’s no need for another debate. Hipkins’s goose is cooked, no matter how hard Newshub try to pretend otherwise.

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As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news,...