7 Sep 2017

Jibes and japes: debate reaction on social media

8:57 pm on 7 September 2017

Bill English and Jacinda Ardern went head-to-head for the third time in the leadup to the general election. RNZ rounds up the best social media reactions to the Stuff leaders' debate.

Jacinda Ardern and Bill English

Jacinda Ardern and Bill English Photo: Supplied / Stuff

Tonight's debate in Christchurch was moderated by The Press editor Joanna Norris and Stuff political editor Tracy Watkins, but neither managed to get much moderating done as Ms Ardern and Mr English sparred.

Look back on RNZ's live coverage with political reporter Craig McCulloch.

The debate began just as the results of the latest 1 News Colmar Brunton poll again put Labour in the lead heading into the 23 September election.

As she did in Monday's Newshub debate, Ms Ardern took turns throwing questions at Mr English - which in some cases led to him increasing his time addressing the lively audience:

There was talk of Mr English running out of ideas. In response, he spoke about … roads:

There was also talk about the number of houses that had been built in Christchurch under National's watch, though some questioned whether this was because of a housing crisis, or something else:

Ms Ardern mentioned how many years National has been in government - a lot:

The people of Christchurch were not keen on hearing what the rest of New Zealand thinks about their city:

And they weren't keen on former Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee getting a mention either:

There were conspiracy theories:

Oh, and let's not forget the zingers. There were plenty of zingers: