Hi John, 

In this update:

• Public Meeting: Law and Order with Mark Mitchell - THIS WEEK!
• Easter events
• Recent policy announcements on education and electrifying NZ.

First up, a final reminder about our public meeting in Levin this coming Wednesday. I've spoken with many local business owners who have genuine concern for their own safety, not to mention the countless people who contact me with community safety concerns from gangs to ram raids. Please join us:

• Wednesday April 5th
• 5pm
• Levin Senior Citizen's Hall
• 1 Montgomery St, Levin

Easter

There's a lot happening in our region. I'll be at the local Easter markets, including Foxton and Waikanae, so please stop me and say hi. I've also got a number of local meetings and visits, as well as hosting MP Chris Bishop.

I'm also looking forward to Anzac Day in our community after I spent Anzac Day last year on the WWI battlefields in Europe. It was very special, but it will be good to be at home this year.

Teaching the Basics Brilliantly

Did you see our recent Education announcement? I've had a very encouraging response locally, including parents, grandparents and teachers. I understand that there is more to growing our children than just maths, reading and writing, but if we fail at the basics, and to be clear we have been failing our kids on the most basic things, then we create massive issues for the future. We need to give them the best possible start for their own sake, and so they can compete on the world stage. I'm a big supporter of this policy, and have been calling for a focus on things like teaching phonics for a long time. It's not just about the students, it's also about how we support teachers and trainee teachers to better equip them with the skills they need to teach things like handwriting, which New Zealand hasn't been great at over the last 20 years. Read more here.

Electrify NZ

We all want to look after our planet, and embrace new technologies like EVs, but we need the infrastructure to support this. Currently, we power electric cars by importing more coal than ever before (under the current Labour Government since 2017). This is absolute madness!

National's plan is to set the conditions so we can power up our electric infrastructure. A wind-farm that takes two years to build, currently takes eight years to consent! This is Labour Party madness. Our plan:

• Turbo-charge new renewable power projects including solar, wind and geothermal by requiring decisions on resource consents to be issued in one year and consents to last for 35 years.
• Unleash investment in transmission and local lines by eliminating consents for upgrades to existing infrastructure and most new infrastructure.

Read about it here.

Other events

As always I've been busy at a huge number of events. Age Concern, the Black Out fundraiser for Hawkes Bay and Tararua cyclone relief, Fale Pasifika. And as always, I haven't seen candidates from any other party at any of these events. I've been visiting businesses and knocking on doors, and I'll keep working hard for you as I really want your support this year for National. 

We need some help

It will take a huge team of volunteers to win this year and we're still a few people short. We need people to help with some admin behind the scenes, join teams who help at markets and waving signs and knocking on doors, and people to offer space for a sign on a fence or in a shop window.

If you can lend us just one or two hours this year, please sign up here.

Thanks for all your support, and please keep spreading the good word about me, and what National are doing locally.

Kind regards,