More hats in the ring!

e road to the General Election is heating up, with more candidates announced for the Tauranga and Bay of Plenty electorates during the past week.

Erika Harvey is again standing in Tauranga for NZ

First, while Christine Young is standing in the same electorate for the ACT Party.

Erika, who lives in Tauranga with husband Dan and their two children, is currently general manager of a local youth charity. She stood in the 2020 General Election for NZ First in Tauranga.

Erika says she is intent on giving her community a stronger voice in Parliament, transferring her own experiences into inspiration to further advocate for Tauranga as a New Zealand First candidate.

Christine is the cofounder of the Martial Arts Academy in Tauranga and Pāpāmoa and holds the rank of 7th Dan Master in ITF TKD.

“I have put myself forward as ACT party candidate because I am deeply concerned with the direction our country is taking under the current and previous governments,” says Christine.

Tauranga electorate

Both Erika and Christine were announced as candidates on Sunday. ey join Jan Tinetti who con rmed her Tauranga electorate candidacy for the Labour Party about six weeks ago and also National’s Sam U ndel, who is standing in Tauranga after winning the city’s by-election June 18, 2022. e Green Party has not con rmed a Tauranga candidate.

Bay of Plenty electorate

In the Bay of Plenty electorate, Cameron Luxton was announced on Sunday as the ACT Party’s candidate – swapping from the Tauranga electorate where he stood for ACT in the last General Election. e married father-of-two lives in Pāpāmoa and is a self-employed builder who is 11th on ACT’s list. “As a builder and a business owner, I understand better than anyone the challenges that Tauranga faces with infrastructure.

“I’ve also watched as gang numbers have exploded here, it’s time someone took on the real issues facing this region,” says Cameron.

He joins Pare Taikato – who was announced as the Labour Party’s BOP candidate last month, after current BOP List MP Angie Warren-Clark planned to move to Whangarei – and National’s BOP candidate Tom Rutherford, who takes over from retiring Todd Muller.

Tauranga-born-and-bred Pare has been an MP Support person for the past ve years; while Taurangabased Tom is fresh from a communications role working for Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell.

Coromandel electorate

In the Coromandel electorate – which takes in Katikati – ACT so far has no announced candidate.

However, NZ First announced Sunday it has Matamata Piako district councillor Caleb Ansell standing for Coromandel. Based in Manawaru with wife Holly, Caleb has a background in customer service. He joins the National Party’s Scott Simpson, who was reselected as their Coromandel candidate for the 2023 election back in December. And Beryl Riley, who is standing for Labour in the Coromandel this election. As of print time, the Green Party could not con rm its BOP or Coromandel candidates.

Nominations close for candidates on September 15. e 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday, October 14, 2023. Find out more at: https://vote.nz