In her first campaign, Dr Kerekere held her own against the MPs, sharing how the Green Party would address environmental, and social issues.
All pledged they would represent the people of Ikaroa Rawhiti, and bring their voices into Parliament if elected.
Although the debate was entertaining the candidates did not shy away from tackling the tough issues.
All advocated for more resourcing, and funding in the mental health sector, and ensuring preventative measures were taken, rather than "being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff".
"As horrific as the numbers are of completed suicides in this country, is that the number of attempts and level of self harm, and depression amongst our young people is growing," Dr Kerekere said.
Tackling the P problem was a priority for all three candidates, which Ms Whaitiri said could be helped by working with those who had knowledge of the drug, and giving them the resources they needed.
This was echoed by Ms Fox, who said " if P gets down into our kids, our schools, that is an epidemic that will take us 10 years to crawl out of".
Reducing the overrepresentation of Maori in prisons could be done through addressing the issues at the front of the problem, and providing better legal aid, Ms Whaitiri advocated.
"Give us a billion and well keep them out of prisons," Ms Fox pledged, adding the three strikes legislation, and bail amendment act needed to be repealed, so prisons would not hold people who "had not even gone to trial yet".
Water - a hot topic in the election - was also brought up, with the candidates discussing the ownership of the awa, and whether it should be charged for - which all agreed it should.
Curly individual questions were also thrown at candidates.
If Labour were to govern and she was offered a ministerial portfolio, Ms Whaitiri said she would like Primary Industries, as this led "fishing, forestry, farming, it's everything our people work in."
This work for the country would not deter from her constituency, as she had "picked a portfolio that I can do both."
When asked which party hers would side with after the election, Ms Fox said they were left leaning, but did not "completely trust Labour".
An activist since the age of 12, Dr Kerekere said if elected, she would be able to bring that into Parliament - having experience on both the marching, and "sitting at the table" forms of activism.
The only real prickly moment of the debate related to Ms Fox disputing comments from Ms Whaitiri about taking herself off Labour's list.
Hawke's Bay Today's livestream of the event reached about 99,000 people.