Local Focus: Business or environment? Coal or unemployment? Napier candidates pick sides

A healthy New Zealand economy needs a healthy environment, says Napier candidate Stuart Nash in this Local Focus video.

"When we go to the world with a global brand that is clean/green/100 per cent pure, we need to live that brand if we are to get any sort of a premium for our products," he says.

New Conservative Napier candidate Deborah Burnside says business should not suffer for the sake of the environment.

"You can't go green at the cost of business," she says.

But Act candidate Judy Kendall says a good economy comes first.

"Successful business then generates capital within the country, through taxes and so on, thereby enabling you to look after the environment a lot more," she says.

National candidate Katie Nimon says business does "a lot more for the environment than people think".

Meanwhile, Green candidate James Crowe, when asked if he favours coal-fired power plants or unemployment, says we don't need either.

"The key is we need to reduce our fossil-fuel emissions."

• John Smith and Ian Gaskin are also standing in the Napier electorate as independents.

Made with funding from