The first of five TVNZ live election debates is on tonight, featuring Labour's Chris Hipkins and National's Christopher Luxon.
It comes less than a month out from election day on October 14, with advance voting open on October 2.
Tonight's first live Leaders' Debate between Hipkins and Luxon begins at 7pm and will be available on TVNZ1, TVNZ+ and 1News.co.nz.
It will be moderated by political editor Jessica Mutch McKay and will be the first time voters get to see the leaders of the country's two main parties going head-to-head in a primetime debate.
It will be 90 minutes long and will be followed by analysis hosted by Q+A's Jack Tame.
Hipkins told Breakfast today he was looking forward to the debate.
"One of the things about election campaigns is you don't actually get to spend as much time debating the big issues as you might like to, so I'm looking forward to having that opportunity to talk about the big issues."
He expected Luxon to be "much stronger" than some people were expecting, but said they were both new to a big, televised debate like this.
"It will be a new experience for both of us."
Luxon had been talking up Hipkins' skills as a debater, and said he had only done a few in his younger days.
“For me, it’s my first big political debate," he said.
“This country doesn’t need a great debater. They need a great manager and a great leader.”
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