The Clutha-Southland electorate was considered one of the safest National Party seats in the country, but it's seen rocky times lately.
Former Prime Minister Bill English held it for 18 years, but it's since had two MPs whose careers ended dramatically.
Todd Barclay resigned in 2017 after secretly recording a staffer and Hamish Walker, who stood down this year after leaking Covid-19 patient information .
New National candidate Joseph Mooney is hoping for better success, with the electorate now re-named Southland after this year’s boundary shuffles .
He’s a former trial lawyer, and freshwater and tourism reforms are top of his mind.
“Farmers agree [they] need to work hard … to improve our water,” Mooney said.
“They’ve been working hard on that. They're saying that the rules that this Government have just brought in are unworkable.”
He said tourism was important to Te Anau and Queenstown.
“Sometimes people make mistakes. People are human. … I’d say third time lucky," Mooney said of his predecessors’ actions.
Labour’s Jon Mitchell and the Green Party's David Kennedy are also fighting for the seat. Similar issues are at the top of their minds.
“I'm looking forward to working with farmers to make sure those regulations work for them, that we have rules they are able to achieve," Mitchell, a former public servant and Queenstown local, said.
He said people would be looking at the mistakes of previous MPs and the issues the country faced.
“People are thinking about where they need to put their vote this time,” he said.
Kennedy has a background in education and holds local community roles.
“There's been a lot of concern about post-Covid, especially in Queenstown with the tourist industry. But, there's some huge opportunities to rebuild infrastructure," he said.
The new electorate now takes in Alexandra and Central Otago, after including Balclutha in the east and Milford Sound in the west in the past.
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