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Dear John, Trans-Tasman Bubble win It is great to know that many people in Australia and New Zealand are going to be free of the travel restrictions of the past year by mid- April. I know that many of you supported my petition to the government to have the borders with Australia opened for quarantine-free travel. More than 45,000 people were motivated to sign the petition in less than a week from when National launched it. It is great that both countries have travel bubble systems in place and some progress towards the vaccination of their citizens. It is unfortunate that the general public in New Zealand won’t be offered vaccinations until July. But let’s hope the government’s bubble system means any threat of a Covid-19 outbreak are greatly reduced. Those who wish to travel are being warned that border closures could occur if there was a Covid-19 outbreak and a system of green for free travel orange for pausing quarantine-free travel and red for suspending quarantine-free travel has been created that it is hoped will contain any problems. The return of tourists from Australia who were 41 per cent of our tourist trade before the border closed last year, is being welcomed by tourist operators, hotels and other accommodation suppliers and the hospitality industry, especially in Queenstown. Although the bubble is to begin just two weeks from it being announced, I am sure that everyone who stands to benefit will be ready to welcome back the tourist trade. My next task is to get the government to open up the borders with Pacific Island countries who need visitors to return there and who also need to send seasonal workers to New Zealand. Many Pasifika countries and economies will have suffered very badly from the lack of tourists visiting their shores over the last 15 months. School Visits in Papakura With the changes to the Papakura Electorate boundaries last April, I am enjoying visiting the new areas in the greatly expanded electorate that now stretches from Walters Road to Bombay and out to the Pohutukawa Coast and across to Kingseat. Recently I have visited schools from the northern boundary to the southern and I have been pleased by what I have seen. Rosehill College has a big roll and an excellent plan for expanding to accommodate the increase in families coming to live in Papakura. Currently it has 1600 senior school students and it will be building, very soon, to accommodate 2500. I had a very positive meeting with Principal Sue Bayly and her senior students who are well informed and full of enthusiasm for their school. I recently met the new principal at Papakura High School, Mr Simon Craggs, who began his leadership in February this year. He has a vision for continuing to upgrade the school that he has inherited from Mr John Rohs who retired last year. Mr Craggs is very pleased that the school did well in the NCEA curriculum and exams last year with results well above decile 1b averages. He thinks that Mr Rohs’ work to build the school roll to 900 was of great value and he is set to continue the increase with a forecast of 1400 students by 2025-26. Papakura High School was built as an Army camp by the Americans in the 1940’s and with the predicted roll growth I think it is time to push for it to be rebuilt. Mr Craggs wants continued improvement to the school’s entire curriculum and fully supports the Service Academy programme that the School Board introduced last year for children who find school challenging. He also acknowledges the support that the Kootuitui Ki Papakura Trust provides to the Papakura High School and the six other junior schools in Papakura who receive its support in Health, Welfare and IT technology. The Kootuitui Trust’s recent impact survey shows that it achieves an $11 return for every dollar it spends on students. The beautiful primary schools that I have visited generally have around 300 children enrolled at them although some in the country areas have just 35 children. Every school has its own culture and individual atmosphere and although there are some resourcing issues, they are a credit to their principals, teachers, Boards of Trustees and children. I heard some lovely singing, saw some brilliant, colourful artwork and met some amazing, bright and motivated children. These children have high hopes for their futures in the medical professions, science, trades, education, law and politics to name a few. I was not so happy to hear that resourcing people for special needs support and social workers in primary schools is difficult and the people who are in these roles are stretched very thinly. I heard that there is a very poor response to children with mental health issues by the Ministry and more trained people are needed. However it is good to know this and to get our National Members of Parliament to focus on getting significant improvements made. Education is very important to me and I really support the excellent work that schools are doing in Papakura. Every child is amazing and deserves the best chance in life and I congratulate all the schools and their staff who are doing their best to help. Best wishes, Judith.
Hon Judith
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