The three leading candidates in the Tauranga by-election exchanged fiery remarks over what should be done about the region's burgeoning gangs.
Tauranga will go to the polls on Saturday, June 18 to vote on who will fill the seat vacated by Simon Bridges.
Bridges resigned in March this year after representing the city since 2008.
"More important to me than being a politician or a businessman, I'm a partner to Natalie and dad to Emlyn, Harry, and Jemima. This week my oldest two children turn 10 and 8 years old, and I want to be able to give them the best of me," the former National leader said at the time.
In a Newshub Nation special on Wednesday evening the three leading candidates - National's Sam Uffindell, Labour's Jan Tinetti and Act's Cameron Luxton - debated the issues facing New Zealand's fifth-largest city.
Law and order, as it is in many parts of the country, is an issue for the electorate and was a hot topic of conversation.
The Bay of Plenty has 1461 known gang members, higher than any other region in New Zealand.
National's candidate Uffindell has campaigned on issuing fines if gang members cruise en masses through Tauranga.
He told debate host Simon Shepherd he is also proposing gang members could have their bikes confiscated for 28 days if they did.
"When I talk to people, families and people whose houses have convoys driving past, they're intimidated. So this is a way to take back the streets from the gangs and give them back to the law-abiding public.
"It's about saying, look, it's not appropriate to drive through the streets intimidating people."
Uffindell cited a recent example where gang members allegedly blocked police from stopping riders doing burnouts.
"That creates a lot of hostility in the environment. People are scared. Our focus is on keeping the streets safe and more back our place to do that."
Tinetti hit back saying National's policy was "short-sighted" and displayed a clear lack of understanding about how gangs work.
"We don't just need a punitive approach. We do need to have consequences for poor behaviour, but we also need to have a multifaceted approach that is across Government and community," Tinetti said.
Tinetti also defended Labour's record on crime. In the past week in Tauranga a bus driver suffered head injuries after being attacked, nurses have reported having their cars broken into and a shipment of meth was intercepted at the port. Shepherd asked if crime in Tauranga has become worse under Labour.
"This government is putting more resourcing into policing and more funding into fighting crime, as we saw in the last budget, but that is only one solution," Tinetti said.
"There is a multifaceted approach that needs to be taken across government. And if we are only talking about punitive response, we are not going to get long-term changes. And I am passionate about seeing long-term changes and a better future for our young."
Act's Luxton said his party wants to go hard on gangs and said Labour's "fluffy" approach was not working.
He pointed out under Labour gang membership nationally had risen by 50 percent and a major driver of that growth had been drugs. Tauranga has a major port which Luxton said is "hub" for the importation of drugs.
"So it's no wonder that the gangs are trying to win dominance in our area and the people of Tauranga are being intimidated."
The exchange became heated when Tinetti accused Act of not wanting a long term solution to the gang problem. The Labour candidate said purely punitive actions only address the issues in the short term.
"They [Act] talk about the fact that they don't want a long term solution," Tinetti said.
Luxton snapped back that was not what he was saying at all.
"That's exactly what you're saying, you are saying you don't want a long term solution, because all you saying is what we have done for years. That is taking a punitive approach."
According to a Newshub Nation-Reid Research poll last week National should hold the seat comfortably, with 56.9 percent of the vote. Labour is sitting on 21.9 percent and Act on 7.4 percent.
Newshub will have the election results as they come in at Newshub.co.nz
