Clichés, chameleons and preparedness: Panel scores Pacific candidate debate

Pacific voters walked away from PMN's Pacific Vote 2026 Debate as the night's biggest losers, according to a panel of political commentators who say candidates stuck to party lines instead of offering a vision to vote for.

Political commentator Emmaline Pickering-Martin tells William Terite on PMN's post-debate analysis the night was much of the same, and not a winning one for Pacific voters.

Fellow commentator Richard Pamatatau says the debate showed who was prepared and who wasn't.

PMN political reporter Thomas Tarurongo Wynne says the debate was measured but not persuasive.

But it is ACT's Henrietta Devoe who drew the sharpest criticism.

"Henrietta needs to read some policy and present it, because ACT has some really strong policy," Pamatatau says.

Wynne says the responsibility actually sits with ACT rather than Devoe alone.

"There's no way that you should allow one of your own to come to a debate and not be prepared, that's actually on the party machinery that works around her."

The Opportunity Party's Romeo Tevaga fared better, with Wynne saying he stood up to longer-serving politicians.

Six Pacific candidates went head-to-head on the issues directly affecting their communities. From left: National's Angee Nicholas, NZ First's Alfred Ngaro, moderator William Terite, Labour's Jenny Salesa, Opportunity's Romeo Tevaga, ACT's Henrietta Devoe and Greens' Teanau Tuiono. Photo/PMN News

Pamatatau also acknowledged Tevaga has potential but needs to be "a bit more feisty", like TOP's Qiulae Wong, who is "not taking any rubbish from people".

Pickering-Martin says Tevaga came closest to anything aspirational with plans over 10 years or more, only for others on stage to scoff.

National's Angee Nicholas, standing in Henderson, wins praise from Pamatatau who says she has never been handed a winnable seat. "If Angee was on the North Shore or in East Coast Bays, she'd be a shoo-in."

Wynne says Nicholas has come back more prepared and confident. "You can see the growth, and it's wonderful for a brown Pacific woman in politics."

NZ First's Alfred Ngaro prompted the sharpest disagreement. Pamatatau calling him "a political chameleon" who is "very good at the soundbites.”

He goes further, describing Christianity as "a colonial imposition" and warning Ngaro is "edging into, arguably, Christian nationalism".

"I think we need to be very careful as a country not to let that in.”

From left to right, Opportunity's Romeo Tevaga, and National's Angee Nicholas lock horns, at the PMN's Pacific Vote 2026 Debate. Photo/PMN News

Wynne, who has known Ngaro since their 20s, pushed back saying "I think it's reductionist. What you've done is reduce a plethora of people's experiences in the Pacific to one single experience around Christian nationalism."

Terite, who regularly interviews Labour's Jenny Salesa on Pacific Mornings, says it is the most animated he has seen her.

Pamatatau says she was quite on fire, because often she is very subdued.

Wynne agrees saying she really held her own.

The one policy that stuck with the panel was Salesa's ideas about a pay boost for women, which Pamatatau says would give them an extra $160 a week.

"That is a very strong, evidence-based thing to say."

But Pickering-Martin says Labour is missing the growing class divides within Pacific communities.

"Some of the things around health care and education are just really missing the mark from Labour."

She says she leans towards the Green Party, but nothing Teanau Tuiono offered would make a difference to the community she herself serves.

From left to right, Act's Henrietta Devoe and, the Green's Teanau Tuiono discuss immigration at PMN's Pacific Vote 2026 Debate. Photo/PMN News

On the result, the panel is split. Pickering-Martin picks a Labour-Greens government. Pamatatau declines to pick, saying business contacts expect "reluctantly a National-led coalition".

Wynne however does not expect a change of government. "Kiwis generally tend to give governments two goes," he says.

"I think it's going to be really, really close, and I'm happy to be wrong."

Pickering-Martin has a plea for Pacific people to turn out.

"People need to turn up and vote, and that's the only time when you are equal with every other person in the country, because one person, one vote."

Enrolment closes at midnight on Sunday 25 October, voting opens on 26 October with Election Day Saturday 7 November.