Dear John,
WOW what a couple of busy weeks it's been since Easter! You may have seen a bit of me in the media over the past couple of weeks - there's been so many COVID issues to cover including around the border, vaccinations, and MIQ. You can read a bit more about that below.
First though I want to tell you about a new campaign I launched on Friday - for a second access road into Wainuiomata. This is not a new idea but one whose time has come. Wainuiomata has just one road in and out of the area - one minor incident on the hill and the area is cut off, sometimes for hours. This happened just a few weeks ago. So a new road would increase resilience. The other driver is the Hutt housing crisis - a second access road would unlock land in north Wainuiomata that could be used for thousands of houses, up to 2500 to 3000 on one estimate. Hutt rents are out of control (average of $361 per week in October 2017 to $580 per week in February 2021), as are house prices (average of $531,421 in October 2017 to $891,148 in February 2021), and the social housing waitlist is at record levels.
My petition calls on the Hutt Council to prioritise a second access through its Long Term Plan consultation (open now) and to talk to the government about backing it with infrastructure funding from its $3.8 billion fund for accelerating housing supply. Sign here!
COVID testing: The big news of the last week is that we are still having big problems with testing workers in our MIQ facilities at the border. It all started when a security guard (Case B) at the Grand Millennium hotel in Auckland contracted COVID-19. On Wednesday morning last week at the Health Committee we had the officials rock up and I asked them when was the last time, before April, that Case B had had a COVID-19 test. Well after some dissembling we got the answer: November 2020! So someone who was meant to be being tested every two weeks had gone six months without one. You can see the exchange here.
What's worse though is that the government doesn't actually know how many other people are in the same situation - it could be a lot more people. We know 74 didn't get a test when they were meant to last week; but we don't know where they work. To make matters worse, the Prime Minister then told Parliament that Case B was lying to his employer, even though there's an investigation underway, which she was basically prejudging the outcome of - and she won't back down. Reminds me a bit of the attack on the KFC worker in February. Now it turns out the border worker testing register wasn't actually operational until February, and the government only hired data analysts last week! I described this as "worrying and incompetent" to Newshub. You can watch my speech in Parliament on the situation here and you can hear me on Mike Hosking's show on Thursday morning.
Speaking of the select committee, the process was a bit of a farce. It was just a 50 minute meeting with the officials, 23 of which were taken up by them speaking to us, leaving limited time for questions. I got pretty frustrated - but rightly so I think, because it's our job to ask the tough questions. The NZ Herald called it "cynical and indefensible". Labour have been reprimanded by the Speaker for their behaviour, and hopefully we will see an improvement - but we've also called for the Epidemic Response Committee (or a new committee) to be established, chaired by an Opposition MP. Let's see where this goes.
Vaccinations: We continue to be worried about the vaccine roll-out, which is very slow by world standards - we are the second slowest in the OECD, and it's been described as "slow and incompetent" by experts. Almost every day I hear new stories from those in our healthcare system about the inadequacy of what's actually happening, which is really concerning. Last week I revealed a leaked Ministry of Health report that showed the government should have administered more than 390,000 vaccine at the the time I revealed it, when we'd actually done just 90,000. The border worker vaccine roll-out was meant to take 2-3 weeks but has taken 2 months and still isn't over.
Finally for this newsletter, the "Let's Get Wellington Moving" transport programme continues to be a problem. Recently Councillors sat down to decide on the "priorities" of the programme. The last thing we need is yet another round of talking and consultation and ‘priority setting’. LGWM delivered a comprehensive programme of work in October 2018. The government funded some (but not all) in May 2019. And here we are in April 2021 talking about projects and priorities. Again. My message is: just get on and do it. Wellingtonians and the region want action not more talking. Speaking of taking action, I have also written to the Minister of Transport about the KGB intersection at the bottom of Kelson. With a new subdivision getting resource consent, the need to start on planning an upgrade is overdue.
Have a great rest of the week. I am thinking of Kiri Allan who was diagnosed with cervical cancer last week. All of Parliament wishes her the best.
Chris
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I spent the day before Easter Friday delivering hot cross buns around the Hutt courtesy of Janus Bakery. Recipients included Wellington Free Ambulance, the Hutt Hospital Maternity Ward, Te Awakairangi Birthing Centre, Hutt Hospital ED, MAPU team, Children's Ward, the Ropata Health COVID-19 vaccination team, the pop-up Covid test centre at the after hours, Te Omanga Hospice, VIBE, Millie's House, Nettie Riley Kindergarten, and more!
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Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh - Happy Vaisakhi to all my Sikh friends! Celebrating Vaisakhi yesterday at the Gurudwara Sahib in Naenae. Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
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New policy from us. We have drafted a Bill to put in place emergency powers similar to those used to speed up house building in Canterbury following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes by doing the following:
 Require all urban councils to immediately zone more land for housing – enough for at least 30 years of expected growth
Limit the Resource Management Act (RMA) appeals process to ensure these new district plans can be completed and put in place rapidly
Provide a $50,000 infrastructure grant to all local authorities (urban and rural) for every new dwelling they consent above their five-year historical average.
The emergency measures will turn the tables from a situation where housing developers have to bend over backwards to get permission to build new housing to a situation where councils are incentivised to make building houses as quick and easy as possible. This bill gives councils permission – in fact it requires them – to say ‘yes’ to housing development and to get as much new housing built as they can as soon as is possible.
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My colleague Erica Stanford and I have been working hard on the plight of split migrant families. There are Hutt Valley people caught up in this humanitarian disaster.
The situation is this: migrants were invited to come to New Zealand and were issued visas based on offers of skilled employment. They are skilled workers: frontline medical workers, teachers, academics, scientists, engineers, construction workers, tech sector workers, tradespeople, etc. They are filling skills shortages in New Zealand.
The migrants moved here prior to March 2020, with the intention that their families follow. Then the borders closed, and the government has so far been unmoved. To make matters worse, some people have been allowed in subsequently WITH their families, while people who came in before the borders closed continue to wait.
There are people caught up in this situation who been split apart from their families for over 400 days.
These families appreciate the border closure and the primacy of keeping COVID out of New Zealand. But they look at America's Cup sailors, the Wiggles, the Lion King, and more, and think.... really? Remember, they are moving here to commit to New Zealand. The least we can do is solve this problem for them.
No Labour MP bothered to show up to the rally two weeks ago and now they have vetoed an inquiry.
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Hutt Valley High School Mould Issues
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Very frustrating news in the last couple of weeks to do with the toxic mould issues at Hutt High. I have reached out to the school to offer any assistance I can in resolving these issues and I have written to Education Minister Chris Hipkins urging immediate action.
I know that his comments ("I don't necessarily think that they've been slow to act....There are a variety of different issues that are at play here, including the fact that schools are given money every year to maintain their buildings. Some have done that very well and some have not. In some cases there are legacy issues, generations gone past perhaps haven't necessarily done the things they should have been doing") have created huge ill-feeling in the HVHS community. They are insulting and inaccurate and he should correct the record.
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What a pleasure it was to attend the Hutt Repertory Theatre opening night of Dave Armstrong’s funny play, ‘Central’ last week. The man himself was there to see it performed.
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In the gladrags with Jenna for the Young Nats ball on Saturday.
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SuperBlues with Judith Collins
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Lovely to have Judith Collins along for the monthly SuperBlues meeting on Thursday last week in Wilton.
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Parliamentary Cricket at Seddon Park
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A couple of weeks ago the Parliamentary Cricket Team had the huge privilege of playing at Seddon Park, under lights! Such an incredible experience to play on a proper international cricket ground and see our names on the electronic scoreboard. Our opponents were Seddon Cricket Club, a new club formed to support cricket in Hamilton and surrounds (they’re the people at the tests in the pink and burgundy blazers).
We played for the Richard Seddon Trophy and the game will now be an annual fixture. The match itself was a lot of fun. Seddon put on 250 all out in 35 overs. I chipped in with 3/37. 250 looked too much for us at the halfway point but nobody counted on an incredible innings from Radio NZ journo Ben Strang who blasted 156 retired from just 77 balls including 11 sizes! We put on 89 together for the 5th wicket of which I’m proud to say my contribution was a princely... six runs. Not a good day with the bat for me but Ben was on fire!
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Made this over Easter.
THE BISHOP: Janus Bakery hot cross bun, Eastbourne Village Meats thick cut bacon, pork and fennel sausage, morcilla, fried egg, Wilson Barbecue sauce. What do you reckon?
What do you think?
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Ladyhawke loved her day at Parliament on Wednesday! I know a few people enjoyed this wee video of her bounding up to get a coffee down on the Esplanade last week too.
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I think I’m a hoiho. What about you?
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