Candidates for the Dunedin North electorate faced off at a forum in Port Chalmers last night.
The candidates who faced about 100 people at Port Chalmers Pioneer Hall were Sam Purchas, of Act; Dr Niki Bould, of the Green Party; Michael Woodhouse, of National; Warren Voight, of New Zealand First; Abe Gray, of The Opportunities Party and former Labour politician Marian Hobbs, who represented absent Dunedin North MP Dr David Clark.
Forum chairwoman Mandy Mayhem compared political parties to nappies.
''Both have to be changed.''
Ms Hobbs said an economy should serve its people by allowing them to live in warm houses, access health services and education and be well paid.
''Real success can't be measured by an increase in gross domestic product - I've never bloody worked out what that is, but never mind.''
Mr Woodhouse wanted to talk about gross domestic product in relation to Port Chalmers.
''It is logs, containers, freight and tourists coming off ships, because they are the people who give jobs and prosperity to communities like ours and it is important we continue to make the gains we can by trading with the rest of the world.''
Mr Gray said New Zealand was heading down the ''wrong track'' and The Opportunities Party would ''get it back on the rails''.
Mr Purchas said, as one of the youngest election candidates, the prospect of owning a house was becoming distant and no real solutions were being proposed.
Mr Voight said New Zealand needed to be ''rebuilt, using our people and our assets ... because at the moment we are relying on immigration and consumption to flesh out our economy and that's not going to work''.
