Dear John,

It has been such a thrill to see my friend and class of 2020 colleague, Christopher Luxon, elected as the new leader of the National Party.

I know Chris to be a man of deep integrity, enormous intelligence, drive and discipline. He is also warm, engaging and kind. He is genuinely interested in people and has spent years thinking about the levers government can pull to make real change to improve lives.

Like me, Chris was elected after one of the National Party’s worst results ever. It was a tough campaign, to say the least. But his election – as well as that of deputy leader, Nicola Willis – is our reset.

As he said in his first speech to media on Tuesday, we are drawing a line under the events of the last four years, and we are putting them behind us. 

The more time I spend in this job, meeting families and businesses across Selwyn, the more I see and hear how much people want the National Party to do well.

You’ll have noticed that we are paying more at the checkout and the petrol pump, house prices are rising faster than anyone predicted, someone you love might not be home for Christmas because they’re one of a million New Zealanders stranded offshore, you might resent vaccination mandates forced on you because the Government’s slow response to Covid has left us with little other choice. You may have lost your job and can’t find another, or you may own a business and can’t find staff.

Whatever your frustration, I can assure you, hundreds of thousands of others are feeling the same.

It's clear that, more than ever, New Zealand needs the National Party to offer them hope, ambition and drive to meet the challenges of the coming decade.

If you are one of the 413,000 voters who moved away from us in the 2020 election, watch this space - National is back.

Youth MP

I’m really excited to be able to name Lincoln High School’s incoming head student, Bobbie Hira, as the 2022 Youth MP for the Selwyn District.

In both her application and interview, I was thoroughly impressed with Bobbie’s connection to young people across the district, her advocacy for youth issues, her commitment to our region, and her drive to make Selwyn as supportive and as inclusive for our rangatahi as possible.

Bobbie clearly has a passion for supporting others and getting involved in our community. Through her sport and kapa haka team work she is deeply connected with other students across Selwyn’s secondary schools.

The 2022 Youth MP programme sees 120 young people from around the country chosen to represent the youth of their respective electorates. The tenure begins in March and runs for six months, and includes a three day experience in parliament where all Youth MPs will take part in parliamentary debates and select committees.

It is an opportunity for youth to identify a local issue impacting on young people that they can advocate change for.

Opening up our border

The Government’s recent announcement that New Zealand’s borders will progressively be opened in the first months of 2022 goes nowhere near far enough and means that Kiwis in Australia have been prevented from coming home for Christmas.

The National Party has long said that the MIQ lottery is cruel, callous, and unfair and the almost 100,000 people who signed our petition urging the Government to end MIQ agree. Not a single fully-vaccinated traveller from Australia to New Zealand in the last three months has tested positive for Covid after arriving in New Zealand. There is no reason why the Trans-Tasman bubble should not be open right now.

The announcement also did nothing for tourism, as Australians cannot even come to New Zealand until April, and many of them will be put off by the one week’s self-isolation.

For skilled migrants and students, the announcement offers little detail. It has failed to address the problems that businesses and the education sector face, and leaves them with more uncertainty. With Australia opening up their borders and aggressively targeting skilled workers and students by offering quarantine free travel from 1 December, the announcement gave them a very compelling reason to choose Australia over New Zealand.

Out and about

This year, I’ve made it my mission to be as accessible as possible. To try and cater for everyone's varying schedules, I host different events at different times of the day to suit all needs. In recent months, for example, I have been out and about around the electorate hosting coffee catch ups, business meetings, and evening ‘pub politics’ events. 

It is critical to me to be available to hear first-hand from people what the issues are that are impacting them.

I regularly host these catch ups in all towns and centres across the region, so if you are keen to pop along, keep an eye out on my social media, this newsletter, and your local newspaper for details.

Here to help

It’s been a big year and my team are taking a well-deserved break over the holiday period. They’ve held the fort while I’ve been in Wellington and have fielded hundreds of enquiries from residents across the district, navigating complex government departments to help people when they need it most.

The Selwyn Electorate Office in Rolleston Square will be closed over the Christmas period. The office will close midday on 23 December and will reopen on 17 January.

Messages will be regularly checked over this period and urgent enquiries will be responded to.

When the office reopens, it will be open as usual from Monday to Friday, 10:00am to 4:00pm and we can be contacted by emailing [email protected] or phoning 03 344 2800.

Kind regards,

Nicola Grigg
http://nicolagrigg.national.org.nz/