A big couple of weeks

Parliament farewells Her Majesty
Dear John,

I like to start each Bishop Bulletin with the big news of the last couple of weeks - and it doesn't come much bigger then the Queen passing away, does it? Jenna woke me on Friday morning with the news - I had seen the news the night before of her ill health and it all obviously happened so quickly. Queen Elizabeth was a remarkable person who provided steadfast and graceful leadership and grace during her time as Queen of New Zealand and we will miss her. I've been enjoying the footage of the Brits queuing to see the Queen lying in state in London - is there anything more British than a 5 kilometre orderly queue with toilets, wrist-bands, and a "queue-tracker"?

Parliament sat on Tuesday and the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and various other MPs paid tribute to her and we welcomed King Charles III, our new King. The House then lifted for the week out of respect for the Monarch's passing - we resume on Tuesday this week coming and it will be back to business as usual. There's certainly a lot to talk about!

COVID-19: On Monday the government finally announced the end of the Traffic Light System - frankly this should have happened a long time ago. The system never worked as it intended - we spent 99% of the time in orange and never once went to green! Lots of other restrictions were lifted too - the health sector mandates are over on the 26th, there's no longer a requirement for household contacts to isolate, and masks are only mandatory in very few situations now. It marks a return to normality after a tough couple of years and I welcomed the changes. I've been travelling a bit in the past couple of days and I gotta say, it's been nice to not have to wear a mask on a plane or in the airport - and not in Parliament anymore either. One thing the government has retained which they should definitely ditch is the ongoing requirement to fill in the NZ Traveller Declaration
([link removed]) . It's unnecessary, burdensome, and annoying.

The next step now is for the government to hold a Royal Commission ([link removed]) into the COVID-19 Response - if they don't, National will establish one within 100 days if we take office next year.

Campaign Chair: Yesterday Christopher Luxon announced that I will be the Chair of National's 2023 Election Campaign ([link removed]) , which involves overseeing our effort around the country. I'm really looking forward to it as I reckon we desperately need a change of government and I want to help achieve that. I've given up the COVID-19 portfolio which has gone back to Dr Shane Reti, who oversaw it for us in 2020 and did a great job.

In case you're wondering, it's definitely my intention to run for National in Hutt South next year as well! I love the Hutt and I want to be the MP for Hutt South again. If you're keen to help out on my local campaign - please flick me a message. (mailto:[email protected]?subject=I'm%20keen%20to%20help)

Wainuiomata Bus Petition: This week I launched a new campaign ([link removed]) calling for the Regional Council to add direct Wainui-Wellington buses to the Metlink network. Wainuiomata is really poorly served by public transport at the moment. After the closure of the number 80 commercial service run by NZ Coach Services, there isn't a single direct bus to Wellington. Eastbourne over the hill has 3,000 people and many regular direct buses, but Wainuiomata (with a population of 20,000) has none. I don't think this is right - you can sign my petition here. ([link removed]) I've written to the Regional Council and I'll keep you posted. And don't forget about my petition for a second access road! Please sign my petition here. ([link removed])

Rotorua: Apart from the obvious the other big news of the last couple of weeks was the appalling emergency housing situation in Rotorua, sparked by TVNZ's Sunday programme. ([link removed]) I know many people found it really upsetting, as did I. The scenes of squalor, poverty and crime were just devastating and there needs to be an inquiry ([link removed]) into the "Visions of a Helping Hand" charity. I was in Rotorua on Monday and met with the Salvation Army, Lifewise, the Chamber of Commerce, builders, developers and the Restore Rotorua group who are working to end emergency housing. Sadly, Rotorua's situation is not unique with over 4000
households living in motels around NZ including 4000 kids.It's a social and economic disaster ([link removed]) and it's happening here in the Hutt too - TVNZ profiled a Lower Hutt woman who has spent 20 months in a local motel. ([link removed]) It's just tragic and I'm doing all that I can for her and her two young boys. Housing is a disaster under this government and I'm determined to improve things.

Have a great weekend. I'm doing a 10k run in the Hutt Marathon on Sunday morning. A bit different to two Sundays ago when it was both my birthday and Father's Day!

Chris

P.S I can't believe this is true but it is - Labour's passing a Bill through Parliament to make every public service department and Crown entity hire "Plain Language" officers. ([link removed]) I kid you not.

Time for direct Wainuiomata to Wellington buses!
If it's good enough for Eastbourne it's good enough for Wainuiomata. Please sign my petition here. ([link removed])
Please sign my petition here. ([link removed])
You don't see this often...
Parliament on Tuesday. Historic day.
First Father's Day!
Visit to Upper Hutt College
Good fun speaking to Upper Hutt College year 9s yesterday about politics!
Visit to Rotorua
Was in Rotorua on Monday with local MP Todd McClay MP ([link removed][0]=AZXUcEH8VzXFyNHPchqQ_Q8VWDdNnrAVPUNVN5Xy5Kk2xpwNUyIzHHJPxNRsiSO5XXvuEku1A49gB3yaMgSVTjGF5masIQmgCQjio_xvv9LbCdlzBXW3ZPb3qiaTvkKkg8ZT6mH5AJCgR011IoIuXMxz1PD5Aua1eSmfJ6AabO6AJQ&__tn__=-]K-R) seeing firsthand for myself the social devastation wreaked by Labour’s emergency housing disaster. I know many people were shocked by the Sunday TVNZ story last week and rightly so.

Met with the Salvation Army, Lifewise, the Chamber of Commerce, builders, developers and the Restore Rotorua group.

There is deep frustration and sadness at what has happened to Rotorua. How did things get like this in one of our premier tourism destinations?

Emergency housing started as a short-term measure to tide people over while they moved into more permanent accommodation.

But for the last five years government has simply been funnelling money into Rotorua motels and taking no accountability for the results. They just write big cheques and motel owners charge what they like - in some cases many hundreds of dollars per night.

Once word got out around the that Rotorua was offering free motel accommodation paid for by MSD, numbers shot up. It’s estimated there are now around 2000 people living in motels in Rotorua. Many have been there for months, some over a year. There are children throughout the motels living in squalor, misery and poverty. Fenton St is crime-ridden. I’ve seen the Police incident maps - there has been a massive increase in the last three years.

How has this happened?

Rents are up a massive 185 bucks a week on average in Rotorua in the last five years, forcing more people into social housing and motels. Thanks to Labour’s new taxes, landlords are leaving the market. Plus the removal of the rule allowing landlords to give 90 days notice to tenants has had the effect of making it less likely landlords will offer rental properties to people they consider risky tenants.

Amazingly there are fewer rental properties in Rotorua now than five years ago. Unsurprisingly rents are up and people have ended up in motels.

The government hasn’t been building houses for people to move into. In 2017 the last National government announced 117 new social and transitional houses for Rotorua - it was cancelled when Labour won and since then very few state homes have been built.

The government has failed and human misery on an industrial scale is the result, alongside economic damage to Rotorua.

The solutions to this are complex, difficult and will take time. But I’m determined to make a difference. Watch this space.
Waiwhetu Stream clean-up
Doing my regular Waiwhetu Stream clean-up last Sunday.
Wood St Update
In December 2019 Kainga Ora announced they would be building dozens of transitional housing units on the site of the old Wood Hatton School in Wood St, Wainuiomata. There was a strong community reaction and I facilitated a local residents’ group meeting at the time. Residents were (and are) in favour of more housing but wanted a mix of permanent and transitional housing.

In July 2020 Kainga Ora had backed down and agreed that there would be a mixture of housing types on the land. Since then there has been radio silence with very little communication to local residents or the wider community. I’ve been chasing Kainga Ora through OIA requests and parliamentary questions to the Minister of Housing.

Last week - some news. Kainga Ora have purchased the land from the Crown landbank and will be moving forward with housing. The housing will now be all permanent and consist of around 35 new social housing units. The land will be sold by September and they expect to lodge resource consents in March next year. Construction maybe towards the end of next year.

This is a good outcome but it’s a shame it has taken almost three years to get here. If Kainga Ora had rocked up in December 2019 and said they wanted to build 30 social homes on the site it would have met with near universal approval and people could have been living in the homes by now!
Back at Parliament this week
Back at Parliament this week. TVNZ asking me if the removals of masks in Parliament made it more likely I’d be kicked out!
For the record in 8 years I’ve never been booted from the chamber although came close with Trevor…
Celebrating Onam
Lovely to celebrate Onam a couple of weekends ago with Wellington's Malayalee community. Paul Eagle ([link removed][0]=AZXW0Ding4sU-vKc7nlRJ4sxcCYI_HBPG9eL9yI4frrMs29XYBrbmkRBlvIVQays_toYdH-rcTlcPAYYjPcF_VeIy4HKYYEgdkILMLzz1OQkLgRx80CyZOEhegE5-PkCFFZI2iC1R4kit6VCXH4ghJNcKsyk6ztp_BKWLP1nwdVGFw&__tn__=-]K-R) and I were the guests of honour. Well done to the Wellington Malayalee Association (WMA) and thank you for the warm welcome and hospitality.
(Photos Indian Weekender ([link removed][0]=AZXW0Ding4sU-vKc7nlRJ4sxcCYI_HBPG9eL9yI4frrMs29XYBrbmkRBlvIVQays_toYdH-rcTlcPAYYjPcF_VeIy4HKYYEgdkILMLzz1OQkLgRx80CyZOEhegE5-PkCFFZI2iC1R4kit6VCXH4ghJNcKsyk6ztp_BKWLP1nwdVGFw&__tn__=kK-R) )
Regular Jeremy photo
Best birthday present ever!
Hairy MacLary time!

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