Tauranga’s Escape Festival has revealed that Labour’s Hon Jan Tinetti MP and Rotorua Lakes Mayoral candidate Tania Tapsell will be joining The Spinoff team in Tauranga Moana as the special guests for a unique event in the 2022 festival; a live recording of the website’s popular political podcast, Gone By Lunchtime, taking place on Sunday 16 October.
Gone By Lunchtime has been The Spinoff’s flagship politics podcast since 2016, with award-winning journalist Annabelle Lee-Mather (Three’s The Hui) and noted political commentator Ben Thomas joining The Spinoff editor-at-large Toby Manhire every fortnight to unpack the latest developments out of the Beehive, with unrivalled knowledge and humour. What sets Gone By Lunchtime apart is its ability to harness the entertaining, comedic element of politics and use it as a portal to touch on the deeper, more important issues.
The triumvirate spend their days closely studying the ins, outs, ups and downs of Aotearoa’s political, cultural and media landscapes, and the parties and people who inhabit them. In this delightfully acerbic session, they will assess the state of play a year out from election, peer into the turbulent times of the Tauranga City Council, and discuss the current and future political landscape of our city with these two formidable politicians.
Hon Jan Tinetti is a list Member of Parliament based in Tauranga. She is currently the Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister for Women, and Associate Minister of Education. Her entry into politics stemmed from her belief that the Government has a role to play in ensuring all New Zealanders have access to the services they need to help them to be the best they can be. Jan pursued a career in primary school teaching which saw her working in schools in Invercargill and Greymouth before embarking on a career as a school principal. Over her 20 years as a primary school principal, she led across four schools across Southland and Tauranga. Her last position as principal before entering politics was Merivale School, Tauranga’s sole decile 1 school. Throughout her career in education, she has fiercely advocated at a national level for equal educational opportunities. After seeing families struggling in her local community, she has campaigned for them to access everything they need to thrive.
Rotorua Mayoral Candidate Tania Tapsell is driven by a desire to create positive change for communities. She is the Deputy Chairperson of the New Zealand Community Board which represents 110 boards across the country and was the youngest Councillor when she was elected to Rotorua Lakes Council at only 21 years old in 2013. Nine years on, she topped the polls twice with the most votes. Tania is Chairperson of the Council Operations Committee which manages $1.3 billion worth of public assets. In 2020 , Tania was the National Party Candidate for East Coast. She has a Bachelor of Management studies from the University of Waikato and has worked at Deloitte, BNZ, and in tourism.
Tickets for Escape Festival’s Gone By Lunchtime: Tauranga Live are on sale now, but moving quickly, at www.taurangafestival.co.nz
