Election 2023: Bizarre moments on the campaign trail

Electing the nation's leaders is a serious business, but there have been some offbeat moments during the campaign.

David Seymour's chicken breast quip

Charlotte Cook said she was still recovering from ACT leader David Seymour's comment on Grilled, while he prepared chicken breasts wrapped in bacon.

"Your breasts are extremely large. I think it's possibly a bit more than I would usually... I would usually get smaller ones," he said.

Seymour told Cook he had decided he wouldn't give it all up for love, after all.

Since he made that comment in 2020, he said the government had deteriorated further, giving him a stronger sense that it was his duty to try to improve things.

Chris Luxon's bald humour

Luxon's humour has been more baldy than bawdy.

He has donned hair nets while visiting factories on the campaign trail, despite having a hairless pate.

Luxon has regularly complimented other bald men on their fine heads, and even given them a little rub.

Perhaps wanting to return the favour, one woman offered to moisturise Luxon's bald head, according to RNZ political reporter Katie Scotcher.

Chris Hipkins heads for the rocks

Labour leader Chris Hipkins left reporters gasping and giggling when he veered off in an unexpected direction at the end of a long day.

RNZ political reporter Anneke Smith described Hipkins stopping at an empty cafe while touring the South Island.

Seeing no one was there, Hipkins asked the journalists, photographers and his team members if they wanted to go for a walk around Punakaiki Rocks instead.

As they set off, Hipkins rolled up his sleeves.

"He pulls out his Apple watch and presses 'start workout' and off we go around the rocks. He was gassing it round, it was so fast.

"I think there was one tourist there who he spoke to.

"Definitely didn't pick up any voters around the rocks - it was so bizarre," Smith said.

Admittedly, Hipkins probably had a few sausage rolls and doughnuts to burn off.

Smith also recounted Hipkins saying he was "getting the munchies" on a mall walkabout in a food court.

Later, Hipkins clarified he knew what the phrase meant, but was using it more innocently.

Winston Peters wades in on climate change

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters spoke a wee way from the mark about climate change during one of his campaign visits.

At a September gathering in Remuera, Peters told voters: "Carbon dioxide is 0.04 percent of the Earth's atmosphere and of that 0.04 percent, human effect is 3 percent."

NIWA principal climate scientist Dr Sam Dean told RNZ humans are responsible for 33 percent of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere these days.

Peters also told the crowd New Zealand was a low-emitting country and tried to link tsunamis to climate change.

"We are 0.17 percent of the emissions in this world and China and India and the United States and Russia are not listening ... The biggest tsunami the world ever had was 1968 in recent times.

"We've only been keeping stats for the last 100 years, but you've got all these people out there saying these are unique circumstances and they haven't got the scientific evidence to prove that."

Dean said Aotearoa was actually a dirty polluter - and tsunamis had nothing to do with climate change.

"Proportionately on a per person basis, our emissions are very high and we produce more than our fair share of the pollution that is currently in the planet.

"As far as we know, tsunamis have nothing to do with climate change whatsoever," Dean said.

On a blue note

RNZ's deputy political editor Craig McCulloch said spending eight hours on National's campaign bus was a test for anyone's sanity.

The party's crew crawled from Lower Hutt to Napier on Wednesday, blaring the same song four times, McCulloch said.

It seemed the Young Nats on board couldn't get enough of the party's campaign tune, Day Is Gonna Come, by little-known band Royal Deluxe.

Other curious song choices included Kora's Politician, with the lyrics "poli- poli- poli- politician, can you make a right decision?", and Hell Itself's Wheels on the Bus.

The journalists on the bus would have voted for earmuffs.

Stay up to date with Checkpoint's live election night special with Lisa Owen, Corin Dann, Jane Patterson and reporters around the country from 7pm to midnight on Saturday, running alongside live data and blogging with electorate and party vote results on RNZ's website. RNZ Asia will also be running its own live blog in Chinese.

实时更新报道， 尽在RNZ中文！ 本周六下午5点起，以中文实时追踪2023年新西兰大选。各党票数、全国选情 、计票进展与最终结果，第一手资讯尽在 www.rnz.co.nz/chinese，本周六，我们与您一同关注大选。

Then on Sunday, stay tuned for the Morning Report special from 8am to 10am, examining the results, the drama, and the changes from the night before: with polls this close, exactly who's in government will likely come down to negotiations.