The leaders of National and Labour have had their first ever one-on-one televised debate, covering topics from the Dirty Politics scandal, to farm sales to tax cuts.
The hour-long Television New Zealand debate began with the issue that the National Party leader John Key had been keen to avoid - the book Dirty Politics, which details behaviour within the National Party and of its associates.
Asked to rank the dirtiness of this campaign from one to 10 - Mr Key gave it a five, Mr Cunliffe a six.
Mr Key said he felt Labour was being distracted by the scandal and that was evident in its poll results.
Mr Cunliffe responded: "I think the public would like to know what the Prime Minister is going to do with Judith Collins."
He went on to say he would have fired the Justice Minister, Judith Collins, if he were in charge.
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