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National and the Green Party are refusing to back down over inaccurate claims they have made about their political opponents, as the election campaign heats up.
Parliament descended into furious finger-pointing on Wednesday, with MPs on both sides accusing each other of lying and demanding apologies.
The Greens were pushed to correct claims made about coalition MPs' property holdings, while National refused to retract social media posts mischaracterising Labour's tax policy.
National MPs furious over Greens' property 'lie'
The row centred on a fiery speech from Green MP Tamatha Paul two weeks ago, in which she accused coalition MPs of buying up investment properties after the government changed rental laws.
Paul later posted clips of the speech online, which have since attracted more than one million views.
National's Grant McCallum told RNZ the speech contained two false statements about him: that he owned a Wellington house and that he rented out another property in Paihia.
McCallum said he bought the Paihia house so he could stay there while travelling around the north of his electorate, rather than have taxpayers pay for motel accommodation, and did not rent it out.
"We can attack each other's policies. That's fine. But getting factual things wrong about individuals is not acceptable," McCallum said.
National MP Tom Rutherford called it "a lie" for Paul to say he had bought a rental property. He said he had updated his property records after getting married in January because his wife already owned a house.
"This is the party of envy," Rutherford said. "She should be holding herself to a higher standard."
The ACT Party said Paul was also wrong to claim its MP Parmjeet Parmar had bought "five new houses".
A party spokesperson said Parmar had instead developed five houses on existing sites.
Greens hit back at National's 'crocodile tears'
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said she accepted MPs should get their facts right, but was "not too concerned" about "these property investor MPs and their crocodile tears".
McCallum had already set the record straight in Parliament and the other MPs could do the same, she said.
"If they want a correction, they can write to the Speaker and go through the normal procedures.
"If they really want an apology... they can write to the Speaker and ask for an apology. But are they going to apologise to the hundreds of thousands of people who are struggling to pay rent?"
Davidson went so far as to welcome National's continued focus on the matter.
"It highlights how disconnected these wealthy property investor MPs are, while we have a homelessness problem.
"They are behind legislation that benefits super rich property investors, while at the same time making it harder for ordinary people to even have a home to live in."
Willis: 'I am not going to be asked to explain myself'
Given their pursuit of truth, National MPs were also questioned about their recent social media posts mischaracterising Labour's tax plans.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has repeatedly stated a capital gains tax (CGT) would be the only new tax Labour would support, explicitly ruling out taxes on land and inheritance.
Yet McCallum recently shared a Facebook video listing "all Labour's taxes", including land, gift and inheritance taxes, none of which are Labour policy.
Asked about that post on Wednesday, McCallum said there was a difference between attacking an individual and attacking a party's policies.
"Two different things," he said. "[Labour] have all sorts of policies on taxes, and they've got to link those back into a whole coalition arrangement."
National deputy leader Nicola Willis was equally unrepentant about her party : "It is correct that Labour are campaigning on additional taxes, and that a land tax may well be one of them."
Willis said she would not be changing her tune.
"This is a man who has openly lied to the New Zealand public, saying that businesses will be exempt from his capital gains tax, which is incorrect.
"I am not going to be asked to explain myself until he explains where his extra tax revenue will come from."
When announcing its CGT policy, Labour made clear it would not cover the sale of businesses themselves, but would apply to commercial properties.
Hipkins said National continued to "desperately lie" about Labour's tax policy as they had no track record to campaign on.
"I have been very clear, a Labour government I lead will have a simple, targeted capital gains tax," he said.
"We have ruled out supporting taxes other parties are proposing.
