NationBuilder

Dear John

It's school holidays and I hope you are taking advantage of the great deals on offer to explore our local backyard, it's certainly been great to see the visitors in abundance out and about too!

Love Taupo has great information on the top things to do when you are in the region, whether you fancy skiing, snow-boarding, cycling or mountain biking or simply just walking one of our amazing scenic trails.

I know our businesses are certainly welcoming the additional income and it is encouraging to see economic reports from Te Waka that spending is on the up again in the region.

The Taupo Winter Festival is a must-do for families with an action-packed school holiday programme.

This week, in my latest newsletter I would like to touch on recovery and the options we have to ensure our economy and our communities are strong and become prosperous again.

I would also like to tell you more about our infrastructure plans and some of the mini successes we have had in the electorate recently in that space.

National Leader Todd Muller has announced our plan to get New Zealand Working again. The plan is to rebuild our communities, our economy, get Kiwis back to work and deal with the economic and jobs crises.

The five pillars of our plan are Responsible Economic Management, Delivering Infrastructure, Reskilling and Retraining our workforce, a Greener Smarter Future and Building Stronger Communities.

I've been out and about catching up with our businesses and in some parts of our electorate, like Taupo and the South Waikato businesses are still closing and people are losing their jobs and families their livelihoods.

Our plan forward simply has to include investment in businesses, to give them the confidence to invest and grow, to create more jobs so that our economy can become self-sustainable again.

We need to socially invest in our communities to ensure the money being spent on recovery is going to the right initiatives, people and families for not only their survival but their future prosperity.

Another trend emerging is the large numbers of people moving onto benefits after losing their jobs. We urgently need a longer-term strategy for helping those people and that should include targeting the support to the right people and through the right initiatives.

Despite the worrying trends though, I'm encouraged by the optimism of our businesses and the community. During Volunteer Week I met with so many of you who shared your thoughts on what you are hearing and seeing at the coal face in the community. It was heartwarming to hear your stories of resilience and strength, even in the face of adversity.

Great news too in a recent media article that Cambridge is one of the towns most searched for property!

There will be opportunities for you to catch up with me at upcoming Friendly Forums, details in the newsletter further down. I do look forward to seeing you shortly.

Read my latest newsletter here.

Recovery - what are the options?

Conversations around how and when New Zealand should reopen to the world are plenty and there are differing opinions on what that re-opening should look like when it happens. I have been receiving messages from many of you expressing your views on both the pros and cons of opening our borders to aid New Zealand's recovery from the effects of COVID-19.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure has been a strong focus of the past couple of weeks and history shows that National has been consistent when it comes to supporting and building the infrastructure needed for our local, regional and national economies to flourish. National's recent announcements on infrastructure projects are reassuring and there are more to come. We are focused on projects that support growth, address safety concerns and help support regional New Zealand.