Winners and losers in debate for Mt Albert, the box-office contest of election 2026

Three MPs, one party leader and two first-timers met last night at the Spinoff Great Mt Albert Debate. Toby Manhire is joined for a postmortem by Hayden Donnell and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith to assess the highs and lows from a fast-paced and fiery encounter featuring Labour candidate Helen White, who won the seat last time by 18 votes, Melissa Lee of National, the Greens’ Ricardo Menéndez March, Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong, Alex Price of the Act Party and NZ First’s Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri.

At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Bridget Mills and The Spinoff.