Dear John,
When I last wrote to you, it was with a special update on National's Transport Plan for Wellington and the Hutt Valley, with the election campaign in full swing. A couple of weeks later - Auckland is in Level 3 lockdown with the rest of the country at Level 2, COVID-19 is back in our community, and the election has been delayed until October 17. How things have changed.
It is obviously distressing that COVID-19 is back in New Zealand, particularly when we still don't know where it came from. In recent days, we in National have been focusing on the ongoing issues at managed isolation and quarantine facilities, and the border more generally. It's our job to ask questions, and to get answers to the questions New Zealanders rightly have. Our attitude is pretty simple - the border is our first and most importance defence against COVID-19 and it's critical that it is secure. The government has said for weeks that workers at the border have been being regularly tested, but we now know that is not the case. As of a week ago, nearly 67% of workers at the border had never been tested. In fact, there wasn't a tracking system for border workers before the testing strategy was announced. At one point the government claimed it was because staff were reluctant to be tested, but that has been challenged by a senior official. All in all, it's a mess, and we will stay on the case.
This morning National announced our border policy. We will inject some steel into our defence against Covid-19 by establishing ‘Te Korowai Whakamaru/NZ Border Protection Agency’ to provide comprehensive oversight and management of Covid-19 at the border, requiring international travellers to provide evidence of a negative Covid-19 test before arriving in New Zealand, compulsory contact tracing technologies to be used by agency employees, border facility workers, and District Health Board staff who treat or test patients, and rapid deployment of Bluetooth applications to enhance contact tracing while also exploring alternative technologies, such as a Covid Card. You can read more here.
On Monday the PM announced that the election had been delayed until October 17. This was the right call in my view, although it is going to make for another stressful month! Right now the focus is quite rightly not on campaigning, but instead on COVID-19. So can I encourage you stay safe, wash your hands, use the COVID app to "check in" when you go out, and wear a mask on public transport. We will beat COVID-19 again the same way we did before.
Hopefully things will return to some sort of normality soon and the election campaign will get underway. The signs will stay up, so if you're sick of seeing my face around the Hutt... sorry, you'll have to put up with it a bit longer! A number of "Meet the Candidates" meetings have been postponed and I've suspended door-knocking. I'll let you know when things are back underway - and if you're keen to lend a hand, then please let me know. There's lots to do - leaflet delivery, door-knocking, phone-calling, scrutineering, and more - when the time comes. I've started a weekly diary (currently on hold) for Newsroom - you can read my week of Friday August 7 to 14 here.
In the rest of this Bulletin you can see some of what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks. I was really pleased with the reaction to our Wellington transport package, which is an ambitious programme of investment to really get the Hutt moving - not just Melling, but the Cross Valley Link, Petone to Grenada, a new interchange at Kennedy Good, a new Moonshine bridge, more money for trains, completing the Hutt Walking and Cycling Link, plus of course the second Mt Vic tunnel! Congestion chokes our city, and we need better public transport, more resilience, and a safer network. It is fully-funded from National's huge $31 billion national transport spend over the next decade. We have costed it, we have funded it, and we will deliver it. I can't wait to get started!
Have a great rest of the week and weekend, and see you soon/
Chris
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Sacred Heart School visits Parliament
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Sacred Heart School in Petone visited in the last week of Parliament and Maureen Pugh MP and I had a chat to them about our jobs. Lovely to see lots of interest from the students in our democracy!
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Who wore it better? Rio from Eastern Hutt School dressed up as yours truly for his school disco. Theme was ‘Community Heroes’!!
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Visit to Wainuiomata Primary
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Lots of questions from the students!
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Hutt City 106.7 FM Launched
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Hutt City 106.7FM was officially launched a couple of Saturdays ago by Mayor Campbell Barry! Listen in for some great music and hear Hutt voices.
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Have you tried amazing Hutt product SuperseedCrackers? Made by Hutt local Nikki van de Laar, they’re crackers made of seeds and nuts. Low carb, healthy and delicious! Available at Commonsense Organics, New World, and Moore Wilson’s. Plus online!
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Three years in Parliament comes to an end
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A few stats from the last Parliament. I asked 105 oral questions, with hundreds more supplementary questions. Transport was the biggest area, with 53 questions, followed by Police with 27 (I was the spokesperson for both, for about half the Parliament each). I spoke 119 times in the House, mainly on bills (88 times). I asked 3206 written questions, the bulk of them to Transport and Police.
Have really enjoyed the last three years in Parliament. Hopefully after the election I will be answering questions not asking them!
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National's Transport Plan for Wellington and the Hutt includes an investment of $300 million into buying new trains for the Wellington metro rail network.
I'm proud of our rail network. I use it regularly. Growing up, I took the train to and from high school nearly every day.
Patronage is growing on the network, and in 2019, Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) presented a case for an upgrade of the rail connections between Wellington, Wairarapa and the Manawatu. The GWRC business case provided a number of options to upgrade the network. We will work with them to buy the new trains.
Commuters can expect increased services, increased reliability, and more frequent trains - across the whole network.
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Jackson St Project Continues
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How good is Siam Spoon!? Jackson St Project continued. Cheeky curry on Saturday night. One of our faves on Jackson St.
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Petone Rugby Old Timers' Day
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Petone Rugby Old Timers’ Day a couple of Saturdays ago. Here with legends Jenny and Annie plus Mayor Barry and Deputy Mayor Lewis.
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A stunning sunset the other night from the Lowry Bay Yacht Club looking across the harbour.
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Launching Nicola Willis' Campaign
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It was a huge pleasure to launch my mate Nicola Willis MP’s campaign for Wellington Central a couple of weeks ago. Nicola does an amazing job for Wellington. In the last two a half years she’s been a MP she has led the charge on the Wellington bustastrophe, the second Mt Vic tunnel, fighting the proposed name change by Vic Uni, and lots more. Keep up the great work Nicola!
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Special Visitor at Parliament this week
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Always great to have Ladyhawke at Parliament!
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