Hi John, here’s your October update.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge the passing of former Prime Minister, and local
resident, The Right Honourable Jim Bolger ONZ PC.

I dare not try and summarise his enormous contribution to our country into just
a few words, but at a local level he has been a huge encouragement to me and my
family, and a loyal supporter for National even in his (semi-) retirement.

I'm sure I speak for us all in sending our love to his wife Joan, his children
and grandchildren.

If you want to see my full tribute from Parliament you can watch it here
[link removed]




OCTOBER UPDATE

I'm working across both the old Ōtaki Electorate (up to Foxton) and the new
Kapiti Electorate (down to Whitby), fighting to improve healthcare, to make life
more affordable, and to give us all a little hope. There are some great stories
below of how this is happening in health, in education, in transport and in
housing.


IN THIS MONTH'S UPDATE:

* Are things improving?

* End-of-year morning tea with Judith Collins

* We've delivered a new local health facility

* How you can help

* Ō2NL is all go

* How much better are our children at reading?

* In the news (incl good news!)

* Weekly updates

* Local events

* Upcoming events




ARE THINGS IMPROVING?

I say yes, but I need to share a few stories with you to demonstrate that. I've
also added a few reminders throughout this email of some of the things we've
done over the last two years. Unless we stop and remind ourselves, sometimes we
just focus on the next challenge and forget about all the progress we've made
and just how dire some things were two years ago.




END-OF-YEAR MORNING TEA WITH JUDITH COLLINS

Join us for an early-Christmas morning tea with the incomparable Judith Collins.
This will be so much fun. Everyone is welcome. Please RSVP online at this link
[link removed] if you can, otherwise email
Lorraine [email protected].

Below (right at the bottom) are details for a Christmas BBQ lunch with Nicola
Willis and Chris Bishop, Sunday November 23rd, in Paremata. Just $10.




WE'VE DELIVERED A NEW LOCAL HEALTH FACILITY


ONE MASSIVE HIGHLIGHT THIS WEEK WAS ANNOUNCING THE NEW BREAST CANCER SCREENING
FACILITY IN KAPITI.

It’s no secret that I’ve been fighting hard to get more health services
delivered locally. I'm making a difference. This is the second time I’ve had the
Minister of Health in Kapiti announcing new local services being delivered (the
last being radiology last year). 

This brand new facility in Waikanae is a huge win for all local women. From
Horowhenua to Porirua, all will be able to use it.

Increasing the age band from 45-69 to up to 74 years old means thousands more
women in Kapiti can access early detection, and this potentially saves the life
of one of our local women every year.

I’m really proud of my advocacy in fighting to get this delivered in our region,
and of the broader investment in health that the National Government is making.

I haven't finished and I'm well on the way to fighting for the next new service.




HOW YOU CAN HELP

With new electorate boundaries comes new opportunity. First, I need to build a
local team of supporters. You're not committed to anything, but it means we can
let you know when events are coming up, you can contribute to policy, be part of
little campaigns (like flyer deliveries) or fundraisers. If you would be willing
to go on my supports list please reply to this email.

If you want to pay the $5 required by law to join National, let me know that
too. We need about another 100 local members to steer the local direction of
National. If you want a say then sign up today.
[link removed]




Ō2NL IS ALL GO!

How good is this!

After six years of campaigning we've done it! The new expressway from Ōtaki to
Levin has officially begun. I joined the PM and Transport Minister Chris Bishop
for the official start, and despite the pouring rain, you couldn't keep the
smile off my face.

Thank you to everyone who has done so much to help us achieve this. We had to
fight when Labour cancelled it, when the Greens wanted to down-size it, and when
NZTA produced a design with roundabouts. But at every stage we've been strong as
a community and National have support me, and all of us, to get the outcome we
all deserve.

Enjoy watching the progress as the road takes shape over the next couple of
years.




HOW MUCH BETTER ARE OUR CHILDREN AT READING?

This is transformational. At the start of the year, just one-in-three students
were at the level they should be at. Just 20 weeks later, thanks to our new
'structured literacy' approach, it’s at about 60%, with almost half of our
students exceeding the expected level. That’s almost double what it was six
months ago.

We see these increases for Maori, for Pasifika, for Pakeha, and in schools high
on the equity index, what used to be called low decile, or having more barriers
in life.

Our local teachers are doing an incredible job delivering National's new
approach. At the start of this year, before the change, more than half of our
new entrance children across the country needed targeted support with reading.
Six months later and that has already dropped to just 33%. Just take a minute to
think about that: more than one in three students who needed extra help don’t
anymore. That statistic seems pretty transformational but imagine being one of
those children or their parents. That’s huge, potentially life-changing. 

That is the difference structured literacy makes and that’s why we’ve worked so
hard and so fast to bring in these changes.




GOOD NEWS STORY

We all need a little bit of sunshine. Last week a person came in asking for my
help. They were living in their car. That afternoon they had keys to a home.
That's the difference a good local MP can make, and I have so many stories like
that. You might not see these in the paper, but we are making transformational
change in our community one person at a time.


IN THE NEWS

Here's a few headlines you might have seen:

* Why won't Labour back us on Law and Order? It's hard to understand. First
they voted against a whole bunch of stuff like three strikes and going hard
against gangs. They said a gang patch ban wouldn't work, but when it did they
said it was a good idea but they still won't vote for it. Now they voted
against the law that would make it illegal to protest outside someone's house
and lead to the kind of event we saw with Winston Peters' house getting
broken into. The Greens also voted against this law. We're cracking on
anyway, but despite Labour MPs travelling with "protection" and a Greens MP
stepping down because of intimidation, they won't support the law. They want
it's protection but won't give it support. The Greens hosted the initiator of
the protest at Winston's house, and they wrote a letter of support for the
person convicted of attacking MP offices. When will their supporters
wise-up??

* Labour have no position on anything at the moment. Check out my interview
against Labour on NewstalkZB here
[link removed]

* What are the Maori Party up to? Nobody knows. Their "reset" lasted about four
minutes. They appear to have misled the speaker and all other parties,
promising face-to-face that they would do the maiden speech and a waiata all
within fifteen minutes. The 30 minutes of pure madness was a disgrace to
Parliamentary standards. I walked out when the theatrics began. One of the
things Gerry Brownlee has suggested in response is that he might publicise
which MPs actually turn up each day. I would love to see that, and who turns
up to Select Committees. I'm very proud of National's strong record.

* Why are the unions so upset? Don't be fooled. My kids have been sent home
from school too, but this is not really about pay, or teachers. Most teachers
tell me they don't want to be striking so late in the year, and just want to
see students do their best in final exams. I believe that, and that requires
union officials to come back to the table and negotiate in good faith, and
teachers to stay in the classroom.

* Pay bargaining is important and I have no problem with that. What's not ok is
when the union officials go straight to industrial action after only five
days and won't come to the table. Secondary School teachers have told me
there was no vote on the first round of strikes, which could be a breech of
the law and really serious. Teachers should negotiate for their pay, but that
means the union officials need to get off their ideology of "we will have a
mass strike with all other unions" and actually represent teachers with a bit
of integrity.

* I believe all the unions have just been trying to engineer a mass strike for
about 18 months. They have almost admitted it. Remember unions have a 40%
vote in Labour, and MPs only 20%. Don't blur the lines: union officials =
Labour party.

* These are the same group of unions who fronted my Select Committee to talk
about a Defence Bill. They clearly didn't know what they were talking about,
and were just following the same ideological lines. The PSA said they "want
all the levers" and seem willing to hurt our Defence personnel to get them;
the CTU were just plain incompetent. Check out this video as an example
[link removed] but there is more on my social
media.




WEEKLY UPDATES

Have you seen I'm putting out a weekly video update, explaining one current
issue each week. They come out every Tuesday at 5pm, they're only two minutes,
and you can find them on TikTok [link removed] Instagram
[link removed] or Facebook
[link removed]-

Watch the last month here:

* What kind of country do you want to live in? - Facebook
[link removed]
| Instagram
[link removed]

* It has finally begun! (Ō2NL) - Facebook
[link removed]
| Instagram
[link removed]

* How do we fix wait times at the ED? - Facebook
[link removed]
| Instagram
[link removed]

* Transformation reading - Facebook
[link removed]
| Instagram [link removed]

* Compliance vs judgement - Facebook
[link removed]
| Instagram [link removed]

I'm also keen to hear if you would like other weekly email updates, such as
recent Government announcements, what I'm working on, or what's happening in
different policy areas. Send me your feedback and let me know if you want more
or if you're happy with one big monthly email.


LOCAL EVENTS



Here's a few highlights from the last month:

Golf for Good, the start of Ō2NL, meeting local sports teams at Kapiti Turf,
meeting with Police at the station, and at the 105 Call Centre in Paraparaumu,
holding a public meeting in Waikanae, visiting Paraparaumu College and the media
studies class, visiting the council EOC, meeting a range of local ethnic groups
for lunch with Minister Mark Mitchell, hosting the PM for a public morning tea
in Mana, a lunch with Chris Bishop at Tatum Park, visiting Southwards Car
Museum, Police Remembrance Day at the Police College, local Indian Onam Day
celebrations, meeting local constituents to work on issues one-on-one,
representing Government at the offical Passchendaele remembrance service, and
visiting the office of Kapiti Island Nature Tours.


UPCOMING EVENTS

Still plenty to join in at:

* October

* Special dinner club fundraiser with Chris Penk. Email me if you're
interested to know more.

* 31 - my guest slot on Coast Access Radio, 4-5pm. Listen in for a special
guest appearance by a certain Prime Minister...

* November

* 6 - Early-Christmas morning tea with Judith Collins

* 13 - Under 60s drinks and canapés fundraiser with Erica Stanford, $100 per
person, 7-9pm Waikanae.

* 23 - Supporters Christmas lunch with Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis! This
is combined with other local electorates, and includes all regional MPs:

* Mana Squash Club

6c Pascoe Avenue, Ngatitoa Domain, Mana

* 10:45am - Meeting
12noon - Lunch & BBQ (cash bar available)

* $10pp incl gst (children free) to cover costs

* Payment to: 02 0500 0460556 003
New Zealand National Party
Ref: Surname, "Kapiti"

We will have eftpos available on the day

* December

* 6 - Kāpiti Food Fair - join us at our stall

That's it for this month.

Best wishes,



Tim

[link removed]

www.national.org.nz [link removed]

41 Pipitea Street
Thorndon, Wellington 6011
New Zealand

Authorised by Tim Costley, Parliament Buildings, Wellington

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