The final TVNZ leaders' debate focused on the economy, energy and health care rather than the so-called smear campaign that has dominated headlines over the past few days.
Labour's Helen Clark, National's Don Brash, United Future's Peter Dunne, the Greens' Jeanette Fitzsimons, Maori Party's Pita Sharples, Act's Rodney Hide, NZ First's Winston Peters and the Progressives Jim Anderton all took part.
Kick-starting the debate was where the leaders saw the country in five years.
Clark sees a country which offers a lot of opportunity to all its citizens through jobs, education, trade training and a low unemployment rate. And she said the people can enjoy a lifestyle which the rest of the world envies.
Brash commended Clark's vision but said NZ needs economic growth to raise living standards. He said the tax system must offer New Zealanders incentives to get ahead.
Peters said productivity is needed to provide the resources and economic soundness to pay for the sick, education and personal safety. And he said the Treaty grievance mentality must end.
Dunne continued to push the rights of the family, saying it is the cornerstone of society. He wants New Zealand to be the best place in the world to live work and raise a family and to be the best culturally diverse nation in the world.
Sharples stressed the importance of good race relations and the need to respect every culture and the diversity of all peoples. He said Maori need an authentic voice in parliament.
Anderton said New Zealand is one of best performing countries in the world and it is important to celebrate success and not complain about how bad the country is doing.
Fitzsimons says the Greens want an end to child poverty within 10 years, a programme to clean up our badly polluted rivers and significant steps such as excellent public transport systems to cope with the end of the era of cheap fuel.
Hide sees a freer and more prosperous New Zealand based on tax cuts. He wants to reverse the trend of people emigrating to Australia and to get kiwis to return.
The leaders agreed that high oil prices will slow the economy.
Clark said with supply and demand pressures impacting on the price of oil, New Zealand needs to be looking to polices around bio fuels, hybrid cars and leading edge environmental technologies to grow an economy that is not so oil dependent.
Brash said New Zealand can't avoid being hit by the oil shock and the challenge is how to respond. He said with the increased cost of fuel, there is less money to spend and the country needs a tax system which provides a decent personal and company tax rate. He said policies are needed to encourage growth such as fixing the Resource Management Act to enable the building of roads and power generation and to reduce compliance costs.
Peters said National's borrow and spend policy, and Labour's spend everything attitude places the economy in serious danger because of the oil crisis. He said to over-promise on taxation and welfare is extraordinarily dangerous.
Dunne believes an economic slowdown is inevitable because of the external shock factor. He said he is concerned at the unseemly auction that's come about between the various sides in this election campaign.
Sharples said the price of oil is not the problem and the peak oil crisis is the real issue. He said they want all parties to form a cross-parliamentary commission to look at renewable energy sources.
Anderton said we have to speed up the transformation of the New Zealand economy from a commodity-producing economy to a high added-value and high-value economy. He said New Zealand's future is in export value, not weight.
Fitzsimons said oil problems can't be fixed with taxes or interest rates and need to be addressed through policies which use less oil to do the same things.
Hide said the government should not have increased the taxes on fuel this year and the tax should come off. And he said the situation is going to be worse when the Kyoto agreement kicks in. Hide said the business environment needs to be encouraged to develop New Zealand's energy resources.
After debating the energy issue the leaders had a lively discussion about the Resource Management Act. Clark said the RMA is about balance and ensuring everybody's interests are taken into consideration. National wants to make 22 changes to the RMA.
All the leaders agreed that the investment in health must continue, although they did not always agree on the best way to get value for money. National and Act both want more use of private facilities to reduce surgery waiting lists and the Greens, United Future and the Maori party want free annual wellness checks for New Zealanders with a focus on prevention rather than cure.
Other topics included what it is to be a New Zealander, the Cullen Super fund, immigration, smokefree bars and the prostitution reform bill.
Act was the only party that didn't support the superannuation fund.
All the parties promoted the principle of being a New Zealander regardless of culture and acknowledged that Maori were the tangata whenua. They agreed that Maori had a special place because they were here first, but National and Act want the Maori seats abolished.
New Zealand First, Act, National all felt the government was becoming too involved in social policy reform while others felt issues such as prostitution law reform should be decided by referendum.
Finally
the leaders were asked if their departure from power would be a
loss to politics.
Clark: "That is for the country to judge."
Anderton: "You'll have to ask the people of Wigram, they seem to
think I'm not too bad down there."
Fitzsimons: "If the Greens weren't in a position to have an
influence on policy, it would be a huge loss to New Zealand. My
departure from politics wouldn't because the Green movement doesn't
depend on me.
Sharples: "A new New Zealand will take us to a new place in race
relations...a good place."
Brash: "We would lose a great deal if the National Party weren't
the next government."
Hide: " It's about the principles that Act stands for in our
parliament. The principles of individual freedom and personal
responsibility."
Dunne: "Helen Clark and Don Brash have acknowledged tonight the
role that United Future plays in family policies, I think that
would be missing if we weren't in the mix."
Peters: "The system, establishment and politics needs a
watchdog...someone to keep them honest. If we weren't there then
the next government will be either extremes of the left or the far
right. That's what is good about us."
