The Labour Party has gone from "being nice" under Jacinda Ardern to "being nasty", according to the National Party.
The comment came in the wake of an advert and billboards from the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) showing National leader Christopher Luxon scowling in a way that led to media comment he was being portrayed in the manner of the Italian dictator Mussolini.
The ad also said Luxon was out of touch and was focused on the wealthy few. The same ad appeared on the CTU's Facebook page.
"Thanks to the Labour Party and their mates, this is about to become the most negative election campaign in New Zealand's history," National's campaign chairman Chris Bishop says.
"It is disgraceful....they are now going to resort to negativity and scurrilous lies about National because they have got nothing left."
The CTU is defending its campaign,
"We are running a strong, evidence-based campaign," it says.
"It sets out why Christopher Luxon and National are out of touch with what matters to the lives of working people – and out of touch with the challenges New Zealand faces.
The CTU adds polls show many New Zealanders agree Luxon is out of touch with their lives.
The Labour leader Chris Hipkins is defending the ads, which he says raise some legitimate points. Hipkins also thinks the National Party is being a bit precious.
"The National Party and their surrogates including the Taxpayers Union, Groundswell, Hobsons Pledge and so on, have been running attack ads against me and the Labour Government since the day I took on the job."
"I have not called a press conference or issued a media statement every time they have done this," Hipkins said.
Hipkins then produced a series of National Party posters showing Labour leaders in a negative light. One of them, see below, portrays Labour finance spokesman Grant Robertson with a vacuum cleaner clearing out people's wallets.
Hipkins then went on to describe Bishop's view about the most negative election campaign in history as "utter rubbish."
But Bishop thinks the public will reject the Labour style.
"I just don't want the conversation over the next few weeks to be about what the CTU thinks about Christopher Luxon," he said, calling their billboards "an American-style attack campaign."
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