Labour and National’s finance spokespeople were fishing for a “gotcha” in this evening’s finance debate, hosted by The Post in Wellington.

Labour’s Grant Robertson, armed with a copy of National’s tax plan, tried to trap Nicola Willis with an obvious inconsistency.

National has been arguing that people would be hit by its foreign buyers’ tax depending on their tax residency, which would make the policy compliant with New Zealand’s international tax treaties.

However, National’s tax plan twice mentioned visa residency as the determining factor - something quite different to tax residency. Nowhere does it mention tax residency.

Willis could not quite explain that away, whilst Robertson held aloft her plan.

But Willis herself had an inconsistency. Robertson has frequently bashed the idea of taking GST off things like fruit and vegetables - a policy Labour is now running on. Robertson’s criticism often focused on the fact retailers would not pass on GST savings to consumers.

He often explains his “road to Damascus” conversion by noting that the new Grocery Commissioner will be able to enforce the pass-through of the cut.

But Willis noted that the creation of a Grocery Commissioner was first announced last year, while Robertson was still publicly criticising the GST off fruit and vegetables policy as recently as March of this year.

Photos / Derek Cheng

The Prime Minister expressed his condolences to Neil Christensen's family and loved ones. He will set a date for the by-election in consultation with other party leaders once he has considered information provided by the Electoral Commission as to possible dates.

As we enter the final week of the campaign, what will be Labour and National's strategies to woo voters - and why do both involve NZ First?

And we hear about the electorate races for Hutt South and Ōhāriu and if National will succeed in taking them from Labour. 

A man accused of driving his car toward a National Candidate and his team has pleaded not guilty to all charges at the Waitākere District Court this afternoon.

Georgio Sutherland is facing five charges, including driving while disqualified, common assault, possessing cannabis for supply, behaving threateningly and failing to assist a police officer with a search.

His lawyer, John van der Zanden, entered not guilty pleas on all charges and elected for his client to have a judge-alone trial.

Community Magistrate Russell Bagley remanded the man in custody until early next month and scheduled a case review hearing in January.

Read more here:

Act candidate Neil Christensen has died.

“On behalf of the ACT Party I’d like to offer my condolences to Neil’s family and friends. Our thoughts are with you,” Act leader David Seymour said in a statement today, saying the Port Waikato candidate was a valued member of the party.

“I wish to pay tribute to Neil, who was an infectiously charismatic and fascinating man and was New Zealand’s only registered specialist poultry veterinarian.

“He was a dedicated member of the ACT Party who will be immensely missed. We ask that media respects his family’s request for privacy and allows them to mourn in peace.”

Christensen was ranked 35 on Act’s list, meaning he was unlikely to become an MP without winning the seat of Port Waikato.

Read more here:

Kia ora if you’re just joining now welcome! Here is what you may have missed from today’s coverage of the election so far:  

• Chris Hipkins spoke on Leaders Breakfast with Mike Hosking  

• Hipkins kicked off his campaign walkabout at Auckland All Blacks Experience 

• National has released their Law-and-Order manifesto detailing their tougher sentencing and funding  

• ACT Party wrote an open letter to public service chief executives on what could be expected from them in Government 

• Explore and compare the parties’ key political promises and policies ahead of election day 

• Find out where you can vote early with our interactive map 

National Party leader Christopher Luxon has had a warm reception in Rangiora today.

He visited several spots initially that have been the victims of crime recently.

Shailesh Vallabh the owner of a local dairy said they had been ram-raided earlier in the year.

Asked by Luxon how bad crime had been, Vallabh said "not too bad" in the area.

The ram raid was scary though, he said.

It was "just children" and he felt there needed to be more consequences for them.

"They know nothing is going to happen."

At Showcase Jewellers there was a similar sentiment from Julienne Stewart who said parents also had to take some responsibility.

Luxon was approached by many locals and party supporters, all wishing him well ahead of Saturday.

Later Luxon unveiled the party's Justice Manifesto, which is a compilation of the party policies in the area.

It includes specific offences for 10-17 year olds and "boot camps".

The party also wants to introduce tougher sentences overall and has allocated $718m over four years to accompany 1400 more prisoners due to their policies.

Luxon said there had been a 33 per cent increase in violent offences since 2017.

The Herald has reported on this statistic extensively, and the largest proportion of the increase is family violence. 

The Government has put most of that increase down to better reporting.

Asked why National had not announced any policies in this space, Luxon said they planned to expand what the government had currently been doing.

Luxon said there was "plenty of capacity" in jails to accommodate more prisoners.

Later on Luxon posed with his lookalike Waimakariri candidate Matt Doocey in front of a hoarding.

"Which Matt Doocey is better looking?" the real Matt Doocey asked.

From there Luxon stopped at a local gelato store before moving on to a walkabout in Kaiapoi.

A study released last week revealed how much Kiwis need to earn to be happy - and it is a lot more than our average income.

So are any politicians on the campaign trail offering any solutions to our low wages and low productivity? The Front Page digs into this issue on today's episode 

National has released its law and order manifesto outlining its plan to reduce crime.   

Justice spokesperson, Paul Goldsmith, and Police spokesperson, Mark Mitchell, say National and the public both want tougher penalties for crime.   

“Kiwis understand that to keep the public safe, crime must have real consequences. Sentences should denounce the seriousness of the crime, recognize the harm victims suffer and deter others from offending.   

"That is why National will strengthen New Zealand’s sentencing regime because light sentences for serious offending erode these pillars of our justice system,” Goldsmith said.   

Their policy includes:   

• Providing police with new tools   

• Deliver more police to tackle inner-city crime  

• Stronger sentences for criminals   

• Introducing a new Young Serious Offenders category with stronger consequences, such as Military Academies   

• Speeding up court systems   

• Improved rehabilitation for offenders     

“New Zealanders have every right to be concerned when they see gangs taking over public spaces, businesses fortifying themselves against crime, political party volunteers being intimidated on the campaign trail by gangs, and violent offenders receiving large sentence discounts and home detention.   

"Police need greater powers to disrupt gangs, serious offenders must face serious consequences, and young offenders need stronger interventions to turn around their lives,” Mitchell said.