Election 2026: Live updates from the second leaders' debate

The country is currently short of 220 GPs. Labour wants to bring in three free doctors visits, so how many more GPs will the country need to see this through. "We don't believe you're going to have a significant number more GPs," Hipkins said, favouring a way to make GPs "more productive".

Luxon's one hour of reading, writing and maths is one of the government's proudest education mandates. Hipkins was sheepish when asked if he'd scrap it, saying many schools already enforce these lessons. On phonics, Hipkins wouldn't commit to changing the government's structured literacy approach. But he makes a good point: education isn't always a one-size-fits-all.

On the problem of "little shits", Luxon says there's already strong enough

Onto the quick fire questions: should primary school children learn about Gaza?

Hipkins wasn't keen to tell teachers they can't teach current affairs. Luxon just wants to make sure they show up to school.

What about the dangers of AI?

"Well, that's why I want to ban social media for under-16s," Luxon replied.

"I wasn't the most diligent student," Hipkins said. He also had "many" friends, just for the record.

"Absolutely loved" it, reckoned Luxon. He had heaps of mates too.

And yet, neither of them can name these friends. As Luxon pointed out, you go to parliament and lose contact and find your own support network in the halls of power. "That's quite disheartening," Bridge sighed.

Is there room in Labour's budget to give teachers a pay rise? It's not a question Hipkins answered directly, but he did suggest Bridge check his track record.

Onto pay equity, did Luxon "feel bad" after cancelled current claims? The feeling wasn't something Luxon was keen to meditate on; he'd rather the focus be on the cost of pay equity under Hipkins.

Luxon once called Grant Robertson a "drunken sailor" for his spending habits in government. "Do you feel drunk too?" Bridge asked Luxon.

No, no, no.

What was the last book these leaders read? For Luxon, it's Max Boot's Ronald Reagan biography. And Chippy's is Cormack McCarthy's 'The Road'

Quote of the night goes to Ryan Bridge.

Bridge throws the spotlight to Karina, an audience member who is suffering under the current job market. She's applied for 300 jobs, and hasn't had a human response to any of those applications.

"The trick," said Luxon, is "getting under the hood and fixing the economic fundamentals." Hipkins cited his proposals to encourage more young people into trades, and job guarantees. All valid options, but as Bridge rightly pointed out, they won't provide relief anytime soon.

"Quarter pounder, large fries, chocolate milkshake." You're welcome.

First ad break. Phew. That segment ended with a very awkward, forced handshake to agree to longterm, cross-party plans on superannuation, infrastructure and AI regulation. And Luxon shouted out Barack Obama as his political hero. Let's hope they loosen up!

Chloe Swarbrick as Treasurer?

"No," says Hipkins.

Share PM duties with Winston Peters?

"That's way too premature," Luxon replied. "Hard no."

I don't know how he can be any clearer, guys: Luxon has yet again ruled out forming a coalition with Opportunity.

So, does that mean he'd rather be leader of the opposition than prime minister, if it means teaming up with Qiulae Wong? "I'm going to be the prime minister," he replied.

Next up: describe your leadership style. Hipkins went for "firm in decision-making", and Luxon offered "I think I've got a pretty calm temperament... My job, primarily, is to build a great team."

Asked about a certain "Penk panther", Luxon says he'd rather "front" a problem than "joke" about it. "I'm not interested in mucking around and taking shots at a minister."

And we're off! Hipkins and Luxon entered the stage with a polite handshake. As winner of the coin toss, Hipkins gets to answers Ryan Bridges' first question: "have you ever told a porkie?"

"Not deliberately, no," Hipkins said - it's just that sometimes you say something that you realise wasn't true.

"I don't think a politician needs to do that," was Luxon's reply.

You heard it here first: this is the first time the Chrises have told lies.

T-minus 10 minutes until the Chrises take the stage. There have been endless echoes of "NO NEW TAXES" from a strong crowd of National Party supporters in a pack outside the NZME building. On the other side of the road, Labour supporters are doing their best to out-vibe the blue team. When Chris Hipkins arrived, it was to the dulcet tones of The Soca Boys' 'Follow The Leader'.

Welcome to a bout of déjà vu. Yes, you're once again witnessing Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon heading into the ring for a debate, but this time it's hosted by the NZ Herald's Ryan Bridge. I know what you're thinking: we've really got to stop meeting like this. Sorry, but that's out of the question. This is only the second Chris v Chris debate – there's another one next week.

Tonight's comes after Tuesday1News/Verian poll saw National and Labour deadlocked on 28%. If there's no overhang come election day, a result like this would leave neither the right- or left-bloc with enough seats to form a government, meaning they'd both need to pick up the phone to Opportunity, sitting at 8% in the poll, which would have the party bringing 10 MPs. Of course, Luxon has already ruled out this possibility, but when push comes to shove, you never know what one might do to stay in power.

Now that Chris and Christopher have had some practice with Jack Tame at TVNZ last week, audiences will be hoping for a bit more fire. Hipkins, widely crowned the winner of the last debate, poked the bear a few times but shied away from swinging the bed leg. With the purple vote looking worse than ever, both Chrises will be hoping to sway undecided voters. Showing a bit of personality wouldn't hurt either.

After the debate wraps, The NZ Herald's Katie Bradford will host a panel with Newstalk ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan. In a pre-debate chat, Plessis-Allan highlighted the one thing the campaign has been missing so far: a big vision. "They're hearing this, but I think they're too scared," Plessis-Allan said. "A big vision opens you up to criticism, and this is too tight to take any chances."

There's still 25 days to go until November 7 (and 11 days left before enrolments end and advance voting begins, eek!), so there's still some time to shift the dial. If only slightly. Our editor Veronica Schmidt will be the judge of that; come back to The Spinoff first thing tomorrow to see what she makes of the leaders' efforts.

Missed the action from the first leaders' debate? You can find all the big talking points from last week's debate here, as well as analysis from The Spinoff's editor-at-large Toby Manhire here.