Election 2026: Live updates from the first leaders' debate

06 Oct 2026

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Politics

Black and white headshots of two men in suits, Chris Hipkins and Chrisopher Luxon, against a pink speech bubble and a blue speech bubble. The background is dark blue and there is a ripped paper effect separating the pair. Election 2026 stickers are on top of the image.

Image: Emily Wong/The Spinoff

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Follow the action as Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins go head to head in the first leaders' debate of the campaign, kicking off at 7pm on TVNZ1.

Hot on the heels of one disastrous and one slightly less disastrous poll for National, its leader is facing off with his Labour counterpart in front of the nation tonight. We're at TVNZ's Auckland studios bringing you all the latest for the full 90 minutes of this high-stakes debate.

TagsElection 2026

Alice Neville

Alice Neville

Alice Neville is The Spinoff's deputy editor. Her interests include politics, food and data-driven deep dives of all kinds.

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