Politically Correct English and Ardern set to face off

The all-important first televised debate between Bill English and Jacinda Ardern is coming up and it could make or break the election campaign for one of them. But all anyone can talk about is whether broadcaster Mike Hosking should be fronting it.

Why is he so controversial?

Hosking has got up a lot of noses in his time hosting flagship TVNZ show Seven Sharp including, by his own admission, a lot of Leftwing voters.

NZ First leader Winston Peters has joined the fray, calling on the broadcaster to drop Hosking as he is not objective. More than 30,000 have signed a petition urging TVNZ to replace its host.

So is that all it is?

No. Hosking really stirred things up when he made what he calls a ‘‘throwaway’’ remark about Maori Party voters, suggesting they could only vote for them if they were on the Maori roll.

Uh oh.

Yes – as Hosking later ‘‘clarified’’ you can. of course, give the Maori Party your party vote, no matter what roll you are registered on. It’s only when you want to give them your electorate vote in the Maori seats that you need to be on the Maori roll.

So is that the end of it?

Not really. Hosking didn’t exactly eat humble pie with his ‘‘clarification’’ and the Maori Party has subequently joined Winston Peters in calling for him to be axed from TVNZ’s debate line-up.

Will that happen?

Unlikely. TVNZ won’t take kindly to political bullying over who should front its debates, and Hosking is a ratings winner.

Besides which, there was a similar hoo-ha last election and everyone had to pull their head in after the debates aired because Hosking did a good job, without fear or favour.

So who will win the debate then?

Ardern is a debate novice, though she will have Helen Clark’s former right-hand man, Mike Munro, prepping her for the big night. English is more of a debate pro, having fronted a few as finance minister and, in his former life as a National leader, when he went head to head with Clark.

English may not have great memories of that experience, however, given National was thrashed in the 2002 election, when Clark was in her prime.

So how do we catch the debates?

The TVNZ debates are on August 31, and September 20; both at 7 pm. The TV3 leader’s debate is on September 4, at 8.30pm. TV3 also has a minor party leaders’ debate, to screen on The Nation today, at 9.25am. And, of course, the one to watch for, the Stuff leaders’ debate, from 6pm on September 7.

Also on the campaign trail:

Shane Jones has begun the battle to wrestle Whangarei from National’s Shane Reti.

Bill English announced he would double the price of the Great Walks for foreign visitors.

And Labour announced a $30 million boost for Auckland’s SkyPath bridge crossing.

This column first appeared in our newsletter Politically Correct. Sign up at stuff.co.nz to get it in your inbox.