Luxon shrugs off Labour's chicken suit dig

Christopher Luxon has called the photoshopped pictures of him wearing a chicken suit, circulating social media after he pulled out of the Christchurch leader's debate, "a load of rubbish".

Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins accused the National leader of "chickening out" of the chance to take part in the debate at a new time after Luxon said he was unavailable for a rescheduled Press Leaders' debate.

Hipkins, who tested positive for Covid-19 at the weekend, offered to send a senior Labour politician in his place for the Press debate, but "Luxon didn't want to do that". Hipkins said he also offered "at any point in the next week before election day to have the debate".

Luxon told NewstalkZB's Canterbury Mornings: "Let's be clear, [Chris Hipkins] is isolating in his hotel with Covid, we're 10 days from an election and we have a debate next week anyway with TVNZ. 

• Hipkins says Luxon 'putting up roadblocks' 

"We have a busy schedule ... you know what the last 10 days of an election campaigning are like." 

Luxon said on social media: “I’m extremely disappointed to see Labour falsely claiming that I have ‘pulled out’ of the Stuff Press debate scheduled for tomorrow evening. To be clear, I have not pulled out of the debate – the debate isn’t going ahead because Chris Hipkins has Covid and rescheduling during the last week of the campaign has proven impossible.”

Although he's across the country pushing his party's agenda - Luxon told Canterbury Mornings he doesn't plan to bring his National Party campaign bus to the South Island. 

"It would take too long to bring across the ferry."

-NewstalkZB