On the Campaign, October 13: Wrapping the last six weeks of election campaigning

Prime Minister interview election 2023 Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon. Photos / Michael Craig

After nearly two months of campaigning, dozens of policy announcements, a rise in violence towards candidates, even more national, policy and electorate debates, the death of a candidate, coalition rule-outs, coalition rule-ins, coalition backtracks, and one week off with Covid, we’ve reached the end of the 2023 election campaign.

In a little over 24 hours, the polling booths will close and the first round of votes will be released, and the shape of our next government should - hopefully - start to take shape.

The election campaign has been dominated by debates over tax - whether we need tax cuts or wealth taxes, or whether we should remove tax from fruit and veges or add it on for foreign home-buyers.

Race has been a key issue, with Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori clashing with National, Act and NZ First on issues like co-governance, Māori and Pasifika ministries and policies, and even the Treaty of Waitangi.

And then there have been accusations of misinformation, threats of a second election, and three former Prime Ministers have popped up to add their support to their former parties.

Yet it isn’t even fully over yet, with Port Waikato hosting a byelection next month.

Over the past six weeks, On the Campaign, a daily election podcast for the Herald, has covered it all. And now it’s over to the voters to make up their minds.

Tomorrow night, though, the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB will be bringing you all the results when they come in, from the party votes through to the electorates, and seeing how the 54th Parliament of New Zealand will take shape.

The Herald’s coverage will be fronted by editor at large Shayne Currie and Markets with Madison host Madison Reidy. The two joined On the Campaign host Hamish Fletcher for a look back at the last few weeks of campaigning, discussing which party performed the best, the politicians who stood out and the ones who didn’t, and which policies got everyone talking.

Listen to the full episode of On the Campaign for the full rundown of today’s big election stories.

On the Tiles is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available evenings every weekday.