With 12 days to go, Labour and National are locked in rhetorical combat over the Press debate, which had been scheduled to take place before a live audience of 2,000 in Christchurch tomorrow night. Chris Hipkins’ positive test for Covid-19 meant a rush to reschedule, but that appears to have proved fruitless with the event set to be cancelled.
Labour has accused Luxon of “pulling out”, with National responding that, on the contrary, it is the virus-ridden prime minister that has pulled out, and his rival’s packed schedule makes a later date impossible.
“Labour gave the organisers an undertaking we would look to make nearly any date work once I’m out of Covid isolation,” wrote Hipkins from his isolation in Auckland. “We even said if an alternative date couldn’t work, I would look to do it via Zoom.” He was supported in his disappointment by several colleagues who chose to join the dispute by posting a picture of Luxon in a chicken suit.
In his own social media post, Luxon said this: “I’m extremely disappointed to see Labour falsely claiming that I have ‘pulled out’ of the Stuff Press debate scheduled for tomorrow evening. To be clear, I have not pulled out of the debate – the debate isn’t going ahead because Chris Hipkins has Covid and rescheduling during the last week of the campaign has proven impossible.”
Stuff’s Joanna Norris confirmed in a statement that National had not offered any alternative dates. “Thousands of people were looking forward to seeing both leaders in person in the only South Island debate, which is also live-streamed on Stuff. It will be a huge disappointment to a great many people if this cannot go ahead,” she said.
In keeping with its solutions-focused ethos, the Spinoff reached out to Joel Rindelaub, an expert in atmospheric chemistry at Waikato University. Could Hipkins attend the Press debate in some sort of ventilated suit or capsule and participate safely, even if looking like some desperate Daft Punk wannabe, at the Christchurch Town Hall?
“Technically possible (think Hazmat suit or a space suit type of deal),” said Dr Rindelaub. “But it might be hard to hear him wearing the appropriate mask and so forth. If he is super keen to participate, I would recommend the use of one of our fine human technologies like Zoom.”
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