Election 2020: Bay of Plenty and Tauranga candidate debate to have local flavour

Tauranga and Bay of Plenty election candidates will debate local issues tonight. Photo / Baycourt Community and Arts Centre

Tonight's Parliamentary Election Candidates Forum in Tauranga will have a distinctly local flavour.

The event hosted by the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce at the Baycourt Community and Arts Centre will include candidates from the parties currently in parliament from the Bay of Plenty and Tauranga electorates.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Matt Cowley said the debate would be an opportunity for the community to hear local candidates discuss local issues.

"It is the local candidates of the parties currently in parliament. We recognise that the party leaders are talking about some of New Zealand's bigger topics.

"We want to give this a local flavour and talk about the Western Bay of Plenty economy and identify some key local issues rather than repeat the party lines on nationwide topics. We want to really focus on what the election means from Tauranga and Western Bay communities."

Cowley said the debate would be "quite fast paced", giving fairly strict time limits for each candidate to have their say.

Alert level restrictions mean only 100 people are allowed at the event and all allocated seating has been taken. However, anyone interested can tune in to the live stream here.

It will also be available to watch after the debate.

"I don't think it will be boring by an means," Cowley said.

"Tauranga is changing rather rapidly and I would say on the back of Covid-19 and how New Zealand will recover, it's quite important to have a local lens and find out who people should be voting for at a local level."