Busy week in the electorate
Parliament was in recess last week which meant I was able to spend a bit of time at local events happening around the electorate.
On Monday night I hosted the Minister for Economic Development Steven Joyce at a dinner for around 130 local business people at Southwards in Kapiti.
He discussed the importance of regional economic growth, and connecting New Zealand with growing international markets like China and India.
We also discussed the importance of building better infrastructure, especially for our region. New roads, upgraded rail services to Waikanae, new trains and the rollout of ultrafast broadband will have a major impact on our productivity and growth
Last week I was also busy working with Rowing New Zealand to arrange support for the Horowhenua Rowing Club, which suffered violent vandalism recently.
I’m very pleased that Olympic medal-winning rowers Joseph Sullivan and Peter Taylor are now coming to Levin on Friday November 30 to run a coaching session and attend a fundraising event that night at Horowhenua District Council. Tickets are available for $20 either from the council or my office in Levin.
On Friday last week I took part in the annual Waikanae River Walkover. It was great to meet with volunteers from Friends of the Waikanae River who have grown and planted well over 50,000 trees in the last 15 years.
Later that day I was in Foxton to promote the “Warm Up Foxton” scheme, which is aiming to insulate nearly every home in the town.
Government and industry subsidies will insulate low-income homes at no cost to the home-owner, and provide up to 70% funding for all other eligible homes.
So far over 500 homes have taken up this offer, making them warmer, healthier and more energy-efficient.
There are still more than 500 eligible homes, and I want to encourage everyone to take advantage of this generous scheme before it ends in March next year.
On top of all this, I also spent two days last week travelling around the country meeting with people involved in the racing industry, in my role as Minister of Racing. This is a very important industry for New Zealand with earnings of around $1.6 billion and employing around 17,000 people.