From the Editor’s Desk: Gympie election debate tonight
Candidates for the seat of Gympie have faced off in a live debate. WATCH THE REPLAY.
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Dear readers,
We are being bombarded with political messaging.
From social media posts to billboards, corflute signs and television ads – there is a lot going on at the moment.
The Gympie Times understands that – so to cut through the noise, we are offering you a chance to hear it straight from the people chasing your vote.
The Gympie Chamber of Commerce is hosting and The Gympie Times is livestreaming Gympie’s only live election forum tonight from 6pm.
The debate will be live on the website; all you need to do is visit gympietimes.com.au and click on the election debate story which will dominate our home page.
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Our free and exclusive live-streamed debate - co-ordinated by the Gympie Chamber of Commerce - is among 40 being held across the state, and will be livestreamed through a link to this story on our website from 6-8pm tonight.
The Gympie Times and The Courier-Mail have partnered with Sky News and News Queensland’s extensive network of regional titles to deliver the most comprehensive election coverage across the state.
The election comes amid a COVID-induced recession, with issues like jobs, infrastructure and community safety expected to be at the top of the agenda across the state.
The forum itself will take place in Stan Baker Hall at the Cooloola Christian College at 1 College Road, the Southside, with at least six of the eight candidates taking part.
Gympie Chamber of Commerce president Tony Goodman will introduce the candidates, and board member Brendan Allen will moderate the debate.
This will be Gympie’s one and only live election debate and opportunity to meet candidates and compare them side by side before the election.
Each candidate will be allowed time to introduce themselves and outline their policies before questions will be alllowed from the public.
Got a question you want answered? Email shelley.strachan@news.com.au
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The issues the Chamber has prioritised for the region heading into this election are:
1. Gympie has been flagged as the next growth area in the South East. If elected, how will you leverage every opportunity to ensure high-quality growth in the Gympie Region, thus creating more jobs?
2. How can we attract new business to the area?
3. How would you support the growth and expansion of existing businesses?
The Chamber has invited members of the public and small business owners and managers across our region to attend. All declared candidates have been invited to participate but the Labor candidate Geoff Williams will not be there, and Independent Donna Reardon has yet to confirm.
Some questions will be preprepared by the Chamber’s committee, while others will be unscripted and spontaneous. Candidates’ responses to questions will be strictly limited to 2 minutes. Questions may be ruled out of order by the moderator. At the conclusion of the program, each candidate will have 1 minute to make concluding remarks.
Tea and coffee will be available
Originally published as From the Editor’s Desk: Gympie election debate tonight