The Otago Daily Times on Friday staged the first of what are planned to be a series of electorate debates for candidates contesting the southern seats.

Dunedin was the first electorate off the rank, as candidates Kristine Asuncion (National), David Bainbridge-Zafar (Opportunity), Rachel Brooking (Labour), Francisco Hernandez (Greens) and Kym McDonald-King (New Zealand First) tackled the big issues in a debate moderated by ODT political editor Mike Houlahan.

The criteria for taking part in the debate was that a candidate was representing either a party already in Parliament, or standing for one which had a realistic chance on current polling of making it in to Parliament after the November 7 election.

Act New Zealand has not as yet selected a candidate for Dunedin.

Candidates were asked to address three local issues: the direction and future of the new Dunedin hospital project; funding for the tertiary education sector — both for the University of Otago and for Otago Polytechnic, as well for student support; and homelessness, specifically, what to do about the homeless camp at the Oval.

The debate, which lasted about 40 minutes, was filmed in the Allied Media studios in Stuart St.

It will be uploaded on to www.odt.co.nz about noon on Saturday.