Dear John,
Welcome to the final Bishop Bulletin for the year! I'd like to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
To say 2020 has been a year like no other is a cliched understatement, but it is true. Personally, Jenna and I are looking forward to a good break over summer, and hitting the ground running in 2021.
The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy in my new COVID-19 Response spokesperson role. Just this morning the government finally released the Roche/Simpson report into our border and testing strategy. The report is a damning one, and it was incredibly cynical for the government to release it on the Friday before Christmas, after Parliament has risen for the year. Minister Chris Hipkins actually got the report in late September, and the government has sat on it since then. I've been pushing for its release in Parliament and in the media for the last couple of weeks. It should have been released far sooner. Our border is our first line of defence against COVID-19 and it is clear there is much more work to do. The latest information suggests officials were close to losing control during the recent August outbreak.
On the weekend the government "announced" a Cook Islands travel bubble (I spent most of Saturday while at the Basin Reserve watching the Blackcaps doing media instead...). Sadly, the announcement is actually nothing of the sort. The PM's announcement just repeats that officials are still working on the issue and hope something will be in place by quarter one next year. It is unclear what is taking so long when the Cook Islands are Covid free and the PM said there was ‘progress’ and that it would only take ‘a couple of weeks’ before a bubble would be up and running once both sides were happy.
The same is true of the announcement that there will be an Australia-NZ travel bubble . New Zealanders have been able to travel to Australia without quarantining since October 16, but the same won’t happen in New Zealand until well into next year. Back in November Professor Michael Baker said it was possible to get a trial bubble up and running with Australia by Christmas – so the Government must answer what is taking so long.
Next year a major focus for me will be our roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, alongside the border, testing, MIQ, and more. I'm looking forward to it!
Another focus of the last couple of weeks has been the appalling behaviour of the Speaker of the House, Trevor Mallard. It gives us no pleasure to say that National has lost confidence in the Speaker. Last week it was revealed that Mallard's false accusation of rape against someone working at Parliament had cost the taxpayer $333,000 in a legal settlement. The Speaker initially refused to make a comment to Parliament about it even after I prompted him, so we called him before a select committee this week, where he made things worse. Astonishingly after I asked him, he revealed that he knew within 24 hours he'd made a mistake - which begs the question of why it took 18 months for him to apologise to the person concerned and also Parliament. It was also revealed that there is another case against Parliament, this time an employment matter, so more taxpayer money is likely to be spent. Sadly, we think he has besmirched the reputation of Parliament and isn't fit for the job. We will get back into this in February. So far the PM is standing by him.
It's been a busy couple of weeks around the Hutt too, with end of year prizegivings at Wainuiomata High School, Hutt Valley High, Hutt Intermediate, the Rangatahi Learning Centre, Eastbourne Markets, the Hutt Heroes Fun Run, the launch of the "I Can't Wait" Campaign, and more. I was very sad to hear this week that legendary Hutt Valley High School Principal Ross Sinclair has passed away. As many have noted, Ross really turned around HVHS, and I had a huge amount of time and respect for him. My thoughts are with his family and the wider HVHS community at this very tough time.
Have a great weekend and a very Merry Christmas. See you in 2021!
Chris
P.S Tomorrow I do my 50th parkrun! I was interviewed for a parkrun blog here, if you're interested.
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Campbell, Ginny, Cr Deborah Hislop and I met with Wellington Airport and Tranzit last week to push the case for the return of the Airport Flyer to the Hutt. This is a challenging and tricky area but one we are determined to solve for the Hutt. We will keep pushing. Watch this space. Some media coverage here.
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Hutt Intermediate Prizegiving
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Meet Ray Moo. Came to New Zealand as a refugee from Myanmar when he was 5. This week he finishes Hutt Intermediate as Head Boy. Gave one of the best prizegiving speeches I have heard. A young man with a very bright future.
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With my friend Nicole Thornton from Wainuiomata launching the ‘I Can’t Wait’ campaign at Atrium Cafe last week. Nicole has Crohn’s Disease. Like the more than 20,000 New Zealanders with Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, diarrhoea and urgency are frequent symptoms.
In 2017 Nicole petitioned Parliament asking for a law to mandate businesses provide toilet facilities upon request to people who display a ‘I can’t wait’ card (or similar). The Health Committee recommended publicising the “I Can’t Wait” card and “encouraging business owners to allow toilet access via an education campaign”.
Hutt City Council and the local Chamber of Commerce have come on board and they’re encouraging local Hutt businesses to display this sign that Nicole and I am pointing to if they can provide urgent toilet facilities for people like Nicole who need them. In the coming weeks through the Health Committee that I now sit on I’ll be asking questions about how this campaign can be further supported.
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Hutt Heroes Fun Run last weekend Organised by Hutt Valley Runners with Manaaki Ability Trust and Hutt City Council. Wonderful event - amazing to see so many people giving it a go.
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Over $3 million was spent a single quarter alone in Lower Hutt between June and September on emergency housing special needs grants. The Hutt housing crisis is getting worse. This is a record new level of emergency housing spending in the Hutt. In March 2017 just under $200,000 was spent in a quarter on emergency housing special needs grants, which pay for people to stay in motels whilst waiting for social housing to become available. Since then the numbers have risen sharply. By December 2019 over a million dollars every quarter was being spent, and between June and September 2020, $3 million was spent on over 1000 grants just in Lower Hutt alone.
The Hutt is experiencing the agony of steep house price increases, big rent increases, an ever increasing social housing waitlist, homelessness, and people forced to live in motels.
Labour’s housing policies have failed the Hutt. Labour promised to build 400 Kiwibuild homes in Lower Hutt, but three years on, not a single Kiwibuild house has been built, with none planned. Just 44 Kāinga Ora homes have been built in the Hutt in the last three years, which is utterly unacceptable given the scale of the problem.
We need to be talking as a community about urgently opening up the north of Wainuiomata, and talking to government about a second access road into Wainuiomata from Naenae to unlock the land. National proposed precisely this in the 2020 election.
As a List MP based in the Hutt, housing and transport will continue to be my top priorities. Labour’s policies have failed and it is time for new ideas and new solutions
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This week I had the pleasure of hosting Desmond McBride of Fraser High School, Hamilton, at Parliament. Desmond was the winner of the United Nations Speech Competition for 2020 - a competition I won 19 years ago! Great to see it is still going and I look forward to judging/hosting it in future years again.
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Rangatahi Learning Centre Prizegiving
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Congrats Tyler King! Winner of the Chris Bishop Cup for Outstanding Achievement in NCEA L1 and L2 at the Rangatahi Learning Centre.
Congrats to all other prizewinners at a great awards ceremony.
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Monthly Waiwhetu Stream clean-up
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Managed to get to the Basin Reserve for a fantastic Saturday at the cricket last weekend. A cloudless and beautiful Wellington day and some great cricket from the Black Caps!
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I think she's saying, "I can go faster than these things!"
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