Environmental issues dominated questions from the floor during a meet the candidates forum in Port Macquarie ahead of the state election.
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Candidates contesting the seat of Port Macquarie - Peter Alley (Country Labor), Leslie Williams (The Nationals), Drusi Megget (The Greens) and Jan Burgess (Sustainable Australia) - each had five minutes to address the crowd.
They then answered questions from the floor during the Residents Action Network meet the candidates forum at Port City Bowling Club on Monday, March 18.
The Greens candidate Drusi Megget said she was a Greens member because she was passionate about looking after the environment.
"You need an environment before you have anything else such as an economy," she said.
Sustainable Australia candidate Jan Burgess said the party was not aligned with either the left or right side of politics.
She said the party's primary focus for the election was better planning, affordable housing, secure jobs and a sustainable environment and population.
The Nationals candidate and Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams spoke about local politics, her track record and future priorities.
"I say to the people in the Port Macquarie electorate, judge me on my actions," Mrs Williams said.
Country Labor candidate Peter Alley agreed politics was local, saying it was about local services, and the state government, in particular, was about delivering services.
He spoke about Labor's commitments including more nurses, police and ambulance officers and the practical measures Labor would take in our area.
Questions from the floor ranged from the Ocean Drive duplication to the tidal pool issue, logging, protecting native vegetation, climate change and renewable energy.
In response to a question about logging regulations, Mrs Williams said she was comfortable with the regulations in place and communities such as Herons Creek, Lorne and Lansdowne were built on the forest industry.
Mr Alley said Labor was not happy with the science being used to formulate the forestry agreements and would be reviewing the agreements.
Ms Megget said she thought it was awful what was happening out in the forests and people like her would not rest until they turned it around.
Ms Burgess told the forum the party's policies on forestry called to minimise the scale and improve the practices of native forest logging.
A question from the floor canvassed the candidates' positions on a tidal pool in Port Macquarie.
A $50,000 state government grant will fund a feasibility study to determine if a tidal pool can be built here and the most suitable site.
More than 18,000 residents have signed a petition driven by the Tidal Pool Committee in support of the campaign.
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