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Dear John, Happy New Year! I hope you managed to enjoy a holiday over the summer break. It’s certainly going to be a big year in politics! We are just 256 days until the General Election on 14 October, and we are ready to go. Over the coming months, you’ll be hearing more of National’s vision for the country and the policies we have designed to underpin this. However, in order to spread our message, we need your help. We need people to help deliver fliers, put up billboards, plan events, and everything in between. If you, or someone you know, are keen to help change to Government, we’d love to hear from you! Simply click the below button, or email [email protected] and we’ll be in touch! My office is up and running and, as usual, my team and I are here and available to help. You can get in touch with us by emailing [email protected], phone 03 344 2800, or pop into the office in Rolleston Square between Monday and Fridays.
Social Services HubOver the past year, I have been working with Selwyn Safer Families, who have told me that one of the core issues impacting their ability to provide their services is the lack of a physical space in Selwyn. Due to a lack of that physical presence, anyone needing assistance from agencies, such as Work & Income, must travel to Hornby or Christchurch City to talk to someone in-person. This can be a major barrier for people in our region, as a result of a lack of frequent and reliable public transport. As a result, I surveyed the electorate, with the overwhelming results indicating that 82 per cent of respondents felt there is a need for more social service providers to be based in Selwyn, and 52 per cent of those who indicated that they have a need to access a social service said it was not easy for them to travel to Christchurch to access them. With this, I wrote to the Minister responsible, Carmel Sepuloni, to ask her to investigate funding a social services hub in Selwyn. The Minister has responded and said that MSD currently funds the delivery of Heartland Services around the country and informs me this will be expanded to Selwyn in the next couple of months. While this sounds like a step in the right direction, Heartland Services are a small-scale operation, and the Minister has completely failed to consider the size of our region. Selwyn is the fastest-growing region in New Zealand and deserves to have adequate local services available. With local families suffering from the cost-of-living crisis, more-and-more people will be needing access to social services and the Minister must do better to support the people in our region. I will continue to lobby the Minister on behalf of the Selwyn District.
National will take New Zealand forwardEarlier this month, the National Party caucus met in Napier for our annual two-day caucus retreat. It was a highly productive couple of days planning our campaign strategy, key areas of focus, and policy commitments. National Leader Christopher Luxon also outlined his vision our country, and Deputy Leader Nicola Willis explained her plans to improve the New Zealand economy. You can watch both speeches below 👇
New PortfoliosAt this month’s National caucus reshuffle, I was privileged to be asked by Christopher Luxon to take on the responsibilities of spokesperson for Biosecurity and Food Safety in addition to my current roles of Associate Agriculture, Rural Communities, Animal Welfare, and Women. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Parliament was that I felt there was a lack of rural representation amongst law makers in Wellington. With the addition of these new roles, I'm looking forward to continuing to fly the flag on behalf of our primary industries and food producers. Our food and fibre sector underpins our economy, contributing 11% to our GDP, but remains at risk to serious diseases such as Foot and Mouth. New Zealand has never had an outbreak of Foot and Mouth, but our recent brush with Mycoplasma Bovis and the subsequent eradication programme gives us some idea of the devastating effects that the disease could have. There are no second chances with a disease like Foot and Mouth - one misstep by the agencies charged with protecting our borders is all it would take. I will use my new role to keep pressure on the Government to ensure all protection measures are in place, and that every single preventative method is being utilised to block this devastating disease from breaching our borders.
Local MeetingsSelwyn is a big electorate, so I try my best to get around as many places as possible to make myself available to you. I'll be at cafes in Prebbleton, Templeton, Lincoln, and Rolleston on Friday 10 February. Come and join me for a chat - no appointment needed, just show up! Simply look out for the ‘Meet your MP’ sign on a table once inside. More information: https://nicolagrigg.national.org.nz/meet_your_mp_february
In the news
Kind regards,
Nicola Grigg
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