Local Focus: Bay of Plenty election candidates defend their party's economic credibility

The ongoing economic response to Covid-19 is the big talking point of this election.

In this Local Focus video, we asked three Bay of Plenty candidates what gives their party credibility to lead all New Zealanders out of a recession.

National candidate and former party leader Todd Muller said National's done it before and can do it again.

"2008, 2009 was a serious global financial crisis and we recovered New Zealand in a remarkable way – we didn't need to raise taxes, we got the economy back to ten thousand jobs and communities like this really benefited from that management of this economy," Muller said.

Labour candidate Angie Warren-Clarke said the Government's swift health response had given New Zealand a headstart in terms of recovery. But she challenges the suggestion the previous government's surpluses were responsible for the recovery.

"We had nine years of surplus under the Labour Party," she said. "Then we had the GFC hit with the National Party. So we had two years of surplus for the National Party. And as a consequence, when we came to Government, we were very fiscally responsible, we had some good rules in place to support us for a rainy day."

NZ First candidate Tricia Lawrence spoke about the Provincial Growth Fund being a key factor in any recovery plan.

"With that, we have invested so much money into all the different regions in New Zealand and that is already working," Lawrence said.

Also standing in the Bay of Plenty electorate:
• Pete Huggins for the Greens.
• Bruce Carley for Act.
• Christopher Coker for Legalise Cannabis.
• Angela Moncur for Advance NZ.
• Margaret Colmore for New Conservative.
• Sharon Devery for One.
• Chris Jenkins for The Opportunities Party.

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