Dear John --

It's certainly been a busy few weeks in politics! Last week, I had the enormous privilege of being asked by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to serve as the Minister for Women, Minister of State for Trade, and Associate Minister of Agriculture in the new Coalition Government!

It is a real privilege to be appointed to these roles and to be sworn in on Monday by Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro. I will be working hard and giving these roles my all alongside being the MP for Selwyn. 

We have a range of policies ready to go that will make a real difference to New Zealand and I’m definitely looking forward to getting to work!

100 Day Plan

Our Coalition Government has launched straight into work this week, announcing an ambitious plan for its first 100 days in office. 

We know the last few years have been incredibly tough for many people across New Zealand. 

That’s why we've wasted no time announcing 49 actions we will deliver within 100 days to start the process of improving New Zealanders’ lives.

Our plan sets out key actions to get our country back on track, including:

• Repealing the ‘Ute Tax’
• Introducing legislation to refocus the Reserve Bank on a single mandate of price stability
• Repealing the Fair Pay Agreement legislation
• Stopping blanket speed limit reductions
• Starting work to establish a new regulation agency to improve the quality of regulation
• Introducing legislation to repeal Three Waters
• Introducing legislation to ban gang patches
• Requiring primary and intermediate schools to teach an hour of reading, writing and maths per day starting in 2024
• Banning the use of cellphones in schools
• Setting five major targets for the health system, including for wait times and cancer treatment
• Introducing legislation to disestablish the Māori Health Authority
• Begin work to repeal the Therapeutics Products Act 2023

New Zealand faces a number of challenges and New Zealanders can have confidence that the Coalition Government has both the team and the strategy to address them.

You can read our full 100-day plan here.

Out and about

Outside of being appointed a Minister, I've also been keeping busy out and about locally! It's that time of year when A&P shows and local events are plentiful and I've been getting to as many as I possibly can.

In the last month, I've attended the Ellesmere College Senior Prizegiving, the Selwyn Business Leaders Forum, and spoken at the annual Rural Women New Zealand conference. I also joined around 100 volunteers from Property Brokers, Rolleston Rotary Club, Selwyn Lions, and local emergency services to collect food donations to top up the food banks at the annual Toot for Tucker event. It was so encouraging to see the level of generosity and support on display!

I also really enjoyed attending the 160th New Zealand Agricultural Show! Over the three days, I talked to hundreds of people who popped by the National Party stall and also had the opportunity to hand out some awards, ribbons, and trophies. Best of all, I got to see and meet some of the amazing agribusinesses and companies that work so hard and contribute to such to our region. 

More locally, I also really enjoyed attending this year's Courtenay A&P Show - especially after last year's washout!

As always, it's great to talk to the regular patrons of the show - and I was thrilled to hear all the positive feedback about the coalition agreement and how excited everyone is by our robust plan to get our country back on track!

Congrats to Show President Warwick Seaton and the rest of the organisers for putting on such an enjoyable event - will look forward to seeing you all again next year.

Here to help

As always, my team and I are here and available to help.

You can get in touch with us by emailing [email protected], phone 03 344 2800, or pop into the office in Rolleston Square between Monday and Fridays, 10:00am - 4:00pm.

Kind regards,

Nicola Grigg
https://nicolagrigg.national.org.nz/