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The ACT Party is accusing Labour of "manufactured outrage" after it complained about new candidate Paul Henry's participation in a risqué radio game.
"People want politicians who are real," ACT leader David Seymour says, "not ones that pretend to be outraged."
In an interview on Radio Hauraki on Thursday morning, Henry was asked which of three party leaders he would "shoot, shag or marry" between National's Christopher Luxon, Labour's Chris Hipkins, and New Zealand First's Winston Peters.
"You've got to shoot Hipkins, haven't you?" Henry responded. "You've got to shoot Hipkins. You've given me three choices, to be fair."
He went on to say the next choice was tricky. "It's got to be Winston. I'm shagging Winston."
It prompted quick condemnation from Labour, with Hipkins comparing Henry's conduct to a "circus audition".
"With political leaders around the world actually being shot and killed, Paul Henry should know better," Hipkins said.
In a separate radio appearance on Newstalk ZB, Labour MP Dr Ayesha Verrall described the comments as "absolutely disgusting".
"We can't just let death threats go in our political conversation. There are nutters out there who feed off these sort of things."
But Henry told the New Zealand Herald he was "dumbfounded" by Labour's response to what was "plainly humour".
"I'm sure they have much better things to do than become faux outraged about something like this.”
Seymour said Labour knew full well that the "shoot, shag, marry" game was a common joke.
"Paul is 100 percent authentic," he said. "I suspect that's what's getting to Labour."
Similarly, ACT deputy Nicole McKee told reporters people needed to look at Henry's comments in context.
"If we're going to look seriously to that, well, we need to look seriously as to whether or not he would shag Winston Peters or marry Christopher Luxon as well."
Labour deputy Carmel Sepuloni, however, said Henry's comments were "highly inappropriate".
"You have to wonder whether or not he's auditioning to become a member of Parliament or for some new TV series."
Speaking in Fielding, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was less interested, saying he doubted New Zealanders would take "tremendous offence".
"That sounds like an issue, frankly, for Chris Hipkins, as the leader of Labour, and the leader of ACT, David Seymour, to talk through. It's got nothing to do with me."
Police Minister Mark Mitchell also declined to comment at length, but agreed Henry's response was a bit distasteful.
"He's new to politics now, and even entering into a game that involved having to make decisions like that and commenting on people, probably is not good judgment."
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese similarly faced criticism earlier this month after taking part in a variant of the game on a podcast - "shag, marry, date".
He later apologised for having said he would shag singer Kylie Minogue.
Late yesterday, New Zealand First announced that candidate Stuart Nash had resigned after making a comment about a National MP’s maternity leave.
Nash, a former Labour cabinet minister who was in the race for the Napier seat against Katie Nimon, labelled her lazy for taking leave.
The comment was roundly condemned across the political spectrum as sexist and misogynistic.