Dear John,

This month, we took the time to remember and celebrate the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. On behalf of the Selwyn region, I took the opportunity to acknowledge her seventy years of exemplary service to our country, and the Commonwealth, in the Book of Condolences at parliament.  

September also marked Suffrage Day - the day we celebrate New Zealand becoming the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Thanks to the bravery of women like Kate Sheppard, and the work they did on our behalf leading up to the historic 1893 law change, women like me are not only able to vote, but also to become Members of Parliament in New Zealand’s House of Representatives.

This week, National has launched a campaign to stop Labour’s planned job tax. New Zealanders struggling with the cost-of-living crisis will be surprised to learn of Labour’s quiet plan to impose a 1.39 per cent Jobs Tax on every working Kiwi and every employer – costing the typical worker $834 worse off every year.

People power stopped Labour’s KiwiSaver Tax. Now it is time to stop the jobs tax too. Sign National’s petition today: https://www.national.org.nz/stopthejobstax

Meet Christopher Luxon

On 14 October, I am hosting National Party Leader Christopher Luxon in Selwyn. I will be holding a public meeting to give everyone an opportunity to hear Christopher’s vision for New Zealand, as well as to ask any questions that you may have.

For more information, click here.

Rural Connectivity

This month, Federated Farmers released their Rural Connectivity survey which unsurprisingly revealed that rural New Zealand is being digitally excluded.

The woeful lack of investment in telecommunication from this Labour Government is hurting our rural communities. Over two-thirds of those who responded to the survey reported issues with calls dropping out, and an inability to send or receive texts, with a third noting a deterioration of mobile service in the last 12 months.

It is simply unacceptable that those living rurally are unable to embrace new technologies, grow their business, or educate their children online due to poor connectivity and more must be done to fix this.

You can read more about Rural Connectivity here

Hororata flooding

After being contacted by a landowner in Hororata – who has experienced a significant loss of land as a result of river erosion caused by the floods in late July - I visited their property alongside Selwyn District Council and ECan to view the extent of the damage first hand.

It is clear that improvements are needed in river maintenance and protection to ensure that situations like this can be managed and prevented in the future, including a change in funding and consenting processes among district and regional councils.

Women's Expo

On the weekend of 29-30 October, I will be at the Christchurch Women’s Lifestyle Expo and I’d love to see you there!

The Expo is for women of all ages and is the only event of its kind happening in Canterbury this year. I will be hosting a stall for the expo and will be joined by volunteers and some of my fellow MPs, including Erica Stanford and Dr Shane Reti.

If you’re around, pop along to stall 206 and come and say hi!

You can find out more about the Expo here

In the news

I spoke to Rural News about how New Zealand has been robbed of an opportunity to shape welfare standards in the global trade of live animals.	I talked to the Ashburton Guardian to call on the Government to delay it’s hopelessly impractical winter grazing rules.
Click here to read the article	Click here to read the article

Kind regards,

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