National Party leader Christopher Luxon has refused to say whether beneficiaries would be better off under a National or Labour Government.
It comes as the disability community expresses concern they would receive less financial support from National than Labour.
Luxon was continuously quizzed on AM on Wednesday morning about this with co-host Ryan Bridge becoming frustrated and questioning why the National Party leader wouldn't "answer the question".
It comes as the Guardian Essential New Zealand poll showed the momentum has swung in Labour's direction just three days out from election day. But it's still not enough to get them back into Government.
The poll showed the left bloc of Labour-Greens-Te Pāti Māori would be on 55 seats and the right bloc of National-ACT would be on 54 seats. New Zealand First would hold the balance of power with 11 seats.
The National Party previously announced if they win Saturday's election, benefits would rise by the rate of inflation.
National would reverse a law change introduced by Labour in 2020 to increase benefits by the rate of wages, as wages usually rise faster than inflation.
Luxon was quizzed about this on AM and what it would mean for people living on a disability allowance.
"What it's doing is just making sure that each and every year there'll be an increase to benefits based off inflation so actually people can deal with the cost of living, their purchasing power of their benefit actually buys the same bundle of goods that it does each and every year," he said.
"That's been a long-standing convention of the way to handle it, as you've seen in times of high inflation that we've been experiencing that's what beneficiaries need because wages aren't keeping up with inflation."
Disability advocates say under National's plan, a single person on the supported living benefit would be $6 worse off a week in the first year, rising to $19 a week by 2026. A disabled couple would be $9 a week worse off in the first year and $33 a week worse off by 2026.
"There are no cuts that we're talking about here. What we're talking about is increases to all benefits each and every year based on an index to inflation," Luxon said.
Bridge asked if he would accept that those increases would be at a lower rate than they would receive under Labour, but Luxon said it comes down to what happens with inflation.
The National Party leader has promised, if elected, to get inflation down and wages would grow faster than inflation.
So Bridge continued to question Luxon if people on a disability allowance would get less under a National government than they would with a Labour government.
"What we're guaranteeing is they're going to be protected and their purchasing power of their benefit maintains, so each and every year they can buy the same bundle of goods," he said.
But Bridge started to become frustrated with Luxon's answers saying "can you answer the question"? The National leader fired back saying "I am".
"We're going to index benefits to inflation. That's exactly our approach. That's been the longstanding approach in New Zealand. We think that's the right way to go. It's the best way to actually protect purchasing power of beneficiaries and I think that's a good thing going forward," Luxon said.
Bridge tried one more time saying "can you please answer the question?" Bridge asked Luxon if he accepted it would mean disabled people on a benefit would receive less money under his government than they would under Labour.
"They will have their benefit protected. They will have a regular increase each and every year that will be linked to inflation," he said.
"I appreciate the Labour Party has a different approach, our approach is to say what's the best long-term way to manage benefits and that's to make sure there are consistent, regular increases so people's purchasing power is protected."
Watch the full interview with Christopher Luxon in the video above.
