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Dear John, I hope this finds you well and that you and yours haven’t been too greatly impacted by the recent lockdown. Like many of you, I am sure, I’m busy working from home at the moment. A large part of my job as an electoral MP is to help people - to advocate on their behalf, and to navigate the public sector to connect them with whatever support, representation or services they may need. This past week has made it patently clear many people cannot cope with yo-yoing in and out of severe lockdowns anymore. It is detrimentally impacting their businesses, their families, their children’s education, their social connections, their way of life, and their welfare. New Zealand has been the slowest in the OECD to rollout the vaccine and the Government’s negligent approach has created vulnerabilities that Delta has exposed. The Government must do better.
Suspension of ParliamentA key to the Government doing a better job is having a functioning parliament that allows opposition parties to prosecute it, and hold it to account. When Jacinda Ardern unilaterally suspended Parliament last week, she assured the New Zealand public this wasn’t a big deal because Select Committees would function as forums for scrutiny. Anyone who has witnessed the farce that is Select Committees under this majority Labour Government knew that was utter nonsense. Most Select Committees are chaired by Labour MPs who since the last election have frustrated attempts by all other parties to call ministers and officials to appear before them and have blocked attempts to ask meaningful questions of them when they do. The degree to which Jacinda Ardern has been allowed to control and restrict channels through which she might be made accountable is incredibly concerning. It is our view that the Epidemic Response Committee must be reinstated with urgency under the same operating terms as last time. The ERC is an Opposition led committee and it is the one avenue we have to uphold some democracy in this country right now.
Boosting the vaccine rolloutBeing an opposition MP, there is a fine line to walk between holding the Government to account – calling it out for stupidity and incompetence – and being constructively collaborative where possible. To that end and, with the Delta variant of Covid-19 having well and truly arrived in New Zealand, the National Party is calling on the Government to supercharge the vaccination rollout throughout the country with a new strategy that we have designed. What we need to do now is urgently reset our vaccination strategy and supercharge it to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. We should be aiming for at least 100,000 vaccination doses administered per day, every day. Further to that, the Government urgently needs to order the booster shots so those can be rolled out next year. We also need to target our frontline border and high-risk workers, younger people who are vectors for the virus, and accelerate delivery of the vaccine to 12-15-year-olds. To achieve that, the Government should be making it as easy as possible for our pharmacies to become authorised to administer the vaccine. There are 1800 pharmacists across the country not being utilised when they should be. Only three per cent of pharmacies in Auckland and 13 per cent in the rest of the country are authorised to administer it. It’s not for lack of trying, pharmacists are all too willing to put their hands up and vaccinate the country. But the compliance they have to go through, even though they administer vaccines regularly, is so cumbersome that only two to three pharmacies a day can get their credentials. It’s the same huge burden of compliance GPs face, involving three visits, 150 questions and, unbelievably, evidence of an entrance and exit. Pharmacies and GPs already have the quality standards to vaccinate. To add layers and layers of bureaucracy shows a lack of urgency from the Government. It is clear that a short-term elimination strategy can only work in tandem with a far more aggressive and accelerated vaccination programme if we are to avoid future lockdowns and get New Zealand back on an even footing with the outside world. Water, water everywhere...There are two proposals currently under active consideration that will fundamentally change the way water is cared for, administered, governed and, even, owned in this country. One is the Three Waters proposal, which councils have the choice to opt in or opt out of in surrendering their water assets to the Government. The Selwyn District Council is currently consulting with the public on this. The other is the Water Services bill that Labour has introduced to enact changes brought into law after the lethal contamination of the water in Havelock North in 2017. Within it though, are rules that will force farmers into becoming accredited - and audited - water suppliers. It will expose tens of thousands of rural water schemes to disproportionate bureaucracy, just so they can continue supplying water between, for example, a farmhouse, a dairy shed and workers’ quarters. In our view, rural water schemes already have an excellent track record when it comes to safety and quality, and they very rarely produce risks to human health. Public health incidents more commonly involve council-run water supplies, as in Havelock North and Otago. Despite this, the bill will require the regulator, Taumata Arowai, to track down and register around 70,000 farm supply arrangements, each of which will need to write safety and risk management plans. We’re deeply concerned that the compliance costs and administrative burden this will create for farmers will be significant, while any supposed safety gains will be tiny. National will oppose the Water Services Bill when it comes back to parliament for a second reading. We cannot support a bill that creates yet another unnecessary hoop for farmers to jump through. Instead, we will propose an amendment to exempt small water suppliers that supply fewer than 30 endpoint users – which will capture not only rural water schemes, but marae, subdivision water schemes and holiday home owners sharing a bore.
Dates for the DiaryThursday 16 September After 5 Pub Politics with Nicola Rolleston Rugby Club 5 – 7pm
Sunday 31 October (note: date change from previous newsletter in June) SURREY HILLS GARDEN TOUR fundraising event 10 – 4pm
Thursday 2 December After 5 Pub Politics with Nicola Silver Dollar Pub, Izone, Rolleston 5 – 7pm
For more information about these events, please email [email protected]
Kind regards,
Nicola Grigg
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