Responding to a question from a member of the public, National Party leader Judith Collins described herself as a liberal Anglican with a sense of humour during tonight’s leaders’ debate.
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/etc/designs/core/html5Player.min.d82524be6230ad1e72ad22f919d7e42d.css" type="text/css" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/etc/designs/news/newsPlayer.min.ca32348b114f8e1d31d33146de249c61.css" type="text/css" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/etc/designs/news/irisTV.min.059353f7b287a775e9ee83879b459ff6.css" type="text/css" /><div class="storyPage video videoV2 inline" data-video-id="6200813136001" id="Video_6200813136001">
<!-- storyPage video -->
<div class="iris-recommends swiper-container player-6200813136001">
<div class="iris-recommends-mask"><p>Your playlist will load after this ad</p></div>
</div>
<div class="caption">
The Labour and National leaders answered a viewer’s question on their faith and politics.
Source: 1 NEWS</div>
<hr /></div><!-- video -->
Undecided New Zealanders were given the opportunity to put a question to the leaders of the National and Labour parties during the final debate.
<div class="storyPage"> <p>An undecided voter asked both Collins and Labour's Jacinda Ardern what role their faith would play in their governance.</p></div>
<div class="storyPage"> <p>First to answer the question was Collins, who said her faith already played a role in her job.</p></div>
<div class="storyPage"> <p>“I am exactly who I was. I’ve always been a liberal Anglican.”</p></div>
<div class="storyPage"> <p>She did admit she sometimes wished that she’d done better as a woman of faith. However, she was one who had a sense of humour.</p></div>
<div class="storyPage"> <p>When asked about her stance, Ardern reiterated that she doesn’t have a faith but was raised Mormon and said that has shaped her view on religion.</p></div>
<div class="storyPage"> <p>“I hope what people can see is that I respect people no matter their belief, no matter their upbringing because I had a similar start in my life.</p></div>
<div class="storyPage"> <p>“But one of the reasons I’m agnostic now is, for me, I wanted to make sure my religious beliefs didn’t get in the way of anyone else practising what they chose to believe themselves.”</p></div>
<div class="storyPage"> <p><b>VOTE COMPASS - With the election campaign coming to an end, take this opportunity to participate in Vote Compass, a survey tool which lets you see how your views match up with party policies - go to <a adhocenable="false" href="https://votecompass.tvnz.co.nz/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">tvnz.co.nz/VoteCompass</a></b><br /></p></div>