National leader Judith Collins says the leaders' debates are putting "a blowtorch" on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as the pair went head-to-head for the second time this week.
Collins told Magic Talk's Road to the Election on Sunday morning that the Newshub Leaders' Debate on Wednesday night and the TVNZ debate last week had created "huge momentum" for National.
"People see that [it's] put a little bit of blowtorch on Ms Ardern, and she doesn't have the answers, and that's one of the problems," Collins told host Mitch McCann.
"She promised really big, last time, and she really hasn't delivered."
But Ardern has also aimed fire at the Opposition. At the Newshub Leaders' Debate, Ardern criticised its border protection policy while also condemning Collins' promise to test people for COVID-19 before boarding a flight to New Zealand.
"COVID is much trickier than the leader of the Opposition is giving any credit to, or credit to New Zealand and this entire team for the work they have done to establish themselves as world-leading in our response," Ardern told moderator Patrick Gower.
Collins said on Sunday that National's border policy is "very clear".
"You don't get on a plane to New Zealand unless you've got a negative COVID-19 test. There's a reason for that - everyone on that plane could be infected.
"The other thing is, when we say we're going to test we would test.
"This is really important and it's not a joke - it's not a 'nice to have' it's a 'have to have.'"
According to the latest Newshub-Reid Research Poll, Ardern's Labour holds the majority at 51 percent, with National trailing on 29.6 percent.
