Peters says Luxon-Hipkins debate will not decide election
Winston Peters says "the idea that either Chris will be calling the shots once the votes are counted is nonsense."
He said it after National leader Christopher Luxon and Labour leader Chris Hipkins met in the first televised leaders' debate, according to RNZ. Peters said "the two leaders going head-to-head will not be deciding the outcome come election day."
He was in Dunedin on the 2026 campaign trail, according to the New Zealand Herald. In the same interview he said New Zealand is an attractive place to live, work and raise a family, but it is "not as attractive as it used to be."
Peters first entered Parliament for the National Party in 1978 and set up New Zealand First in 1993. Under MMP, where seats match the share of the vote, the party won 17 seats at the 1996 election. Peters then became deputy prime minister and treasurer.
On policy, he said he hopes the conversion-practices ban will be overturned or relitigated, according to the Herald. He made the remark in Dunedin and did not set out how the law would be changed. Hipkins still leads Labour after its 2023 defeat. After that result he said he was "still digesting" it and would not quit politics, according to 1News. Luxon leads National.
The broader context here is MMP arithmetic. Neither large party can assume a head-to-head race decides who forms a government. Dunedin sits outside Peters' traditional northern base, which points to a party chasing votes across the country. The 1996 result is the only past election he named, and Press Gallery regulars will know it well.
In my view, the weight is less on living standards and more on process. Talk of decline frames the vote as recovery rather than a choice between two leaders, which leaves room for New Zealand First as the corrective. By playing down Luxon against Hipkins, Peters tells supporters and other parties that coalition talks after election day are the main event. That fits how he has placed his party in past MMP parliaments.
Looking at what this means for the campaign, expect the larger parties to keep the focus on the contrast between their leaders. Expect Peters to keep pointing to what happens after the vote. Voters have seen this pattern before.
