Winston Peters' election rally has been stormed by a protester in Gisborne accusing him of badmouthing Māori and calling his supporters racist.
The Māori woman confronted the New Zealand First leader over his claim Māori are not indigenous to New Zealand.
"Do you know who discovered New Zealand?" the woman asked.
"Go and sit down. Go and sit down. Sit down. Sit down," responded Peters.
Peters' minders eventually came to his aid as the woman accused him of "bad-mouthing our people". She turned to the crowd and said: "You Pakehas… stop being racist against the Māori."
The protester eventually left, although not before having abuse hurled at her.
"You are the racist," one attendee said.
Race relations is a key element of this election and a key element of the Peters playbook, which his candidates are following.
During the Newshub debate on Wednesday night, Labour's Chris Hipkins read out comments NZ First's Rangitata candidate Robert Ballantyne made at a recent meeting.
"Cry if you want to, we don’t care. You pushed it too far. We are the party with the cultural mandate and the courage to cut out your disease and bury you permanently," Hipkins quoted the NZ First candidate as saying about Māori.
Luxon called that racist.
Newshub called Ballantyne to ask about his comments, but he referred us back to his leader.
Asked if the comment was racist, Peters said: "No, of course it is not. The people who are saying it is racist, they are the ones who are racist."
Peters was not just defending, but doubling down, while Hipkins was scaling up, using a speech in Kawakawa to blast race-baiting.
"We have seen leaders who see anti-Māori positions as vote winners," Hipkins said.
"They reach out to New Zealanders through one-liners like, 'one system for all', putting the narrative that Māori somehow are getting things that other New Zealanders aren't."
That's a dig at Luxon, who wants to abolish the Māori Health Authority and repeal Three Waters.
"I'm certainly accusing the collective National-ACT-NZ First potential coalition of doing that," Hipkins said.
While Hipkins said Luxon isn't calling out race-baiting, the National leader disagrees.
"Chris Hipkins is a desperate guy in a desperate situation," Luxon said. "He's turned the campaign into a very negative one and a personal one."
Peters also denied race-baiting.
"That is the kind of stuff that racists do," he said.
Racist vitriol has been particularly prevalent in Northland. Labour's Willow-Jean Prime has been targeted with some feral behaviour.
"Whenever I said a te reo Māori word like 'puku' for full tummies, lunches in schools, I was shouted at. When I said 'Aotearoa', the crowd responded, 'It's New Zealand,'" she said.
"That is racism coming from the audience."
Waitangi National Trust chair Pita Tipene drew parallels to Trumpism.
"I think we are heading in the direction of what I hear is happening in the United States."
And Labour's pitching itself as the party to stop it taking root.
