Fired up by an election debate win, Labour leader Chris Hipkins has pledged to campaign with renewed vigour to the finish line of next month's New Zealand election.
Pundits judged Mr Hipkins a clear winner of Wednesday's leaders' debate, broadcast by channel Three, in front of an expected audience of about one million New Zealanders.
The prime minister needed to perform, with polls showing Labour is on track to lose power to Chris Luxon's National at the October 14 poll.
A TVNZ poll released on Wednesday put Labour on 26 per cent support, trailing National on 36, which could form a coalition government with right-wingers ACT and populists NZ First.
Several of Mr Hipkins' best moments came when he tied National to NZ First, pinning Mr Luxon to its leader, Winston Peters, the bogeyman of Kiwi politics.
Speaking after the debate, Mr Hipkins gave himself a nine out of 10 for his performance and told journalists to expect similar fight on the campaign trail.
"The campaign might have started slow but I've decided I'm going to enjoy the last two-and-a-half weeks of it and so this is the level of energy you're going to see from me," he said.
"It means saying what I think and it means doing the sorts of things that I want to do.
"It's been a challenging year and our campaign probably took a wee while to get up a decent head of steam but I'm really enjoying myself now and I'm fully going to enjoy the next two-and-a-half weeks."
Mr Hipkins was up for the contest from the get-go, earning applause for calling out Mr Luxon for missing his own timeline to reveal his alternative budget.
"You promised you'd have your fiscal plan out before voting started," Mr Hipkins said.
"If you can't keep your promises in opposition, why would we trust you to keep them in government?"
Speaking on Newstalk ZB on Thursday morning, Mr Luxon said Mr Hipkins was overly focused on National's campaign as Labour didn't have a record to run on.
"All he's talking about is me, National, and not about his record and ideas going forward," he said.
"Everyone knows Labour is rubbish. They all know that they've underdelivered."
Mr Luxon erred on difficult questions from moderator Paddy Gower.
He did a 10-second U-turn over whether MDMA users were criminals, later calling that moment a "clanger".
He also declined to support his party's former leader Judith Collins as a hypothetical foreign minister over Mr Peters, whose spectre hangs over National's campaign.
Mr Luxon stayed quiet all year about the prospect of Mr Peters' party joining a National-led coalition until this week, when he confirmed it was keeping the option open but only consider it as a last resort.
Both leaders were asked whether Mr Peters was good or bad for the country.
Mr Hipkins instantly offered bad, while Mr Luxon dithered.
"That's a decision for the voters of New Zealand. I don't know him," Mr Luxon said of the politician first elected in 1978.
"Everybody knows him," Mr Gower exclaimed to laughs from the crowd, extracting a moment that highlighted Mr Luxon's political inexperience.
"I'm not sure where he's been for the last 40 years," Mr Hipkins said.
The leaders agreed on plenty during the debate, pledging to keep police numbers above gang numbers, reduce the number of children living in poverty and lower the age for bowel cancer screening.
