Upper Hutt Transition Towns meeting

On Monday afternoon I attended the Transition Towns meeting in Upper Hutt. The topic for the bi-monthly public meeting was permaculture and we watched a film about an Austrian farmer who is living off his land using natural and environmentally friendly year-round gardening techniques, even when the land is blanketed in snow. The film was preceded by a talk from permaculture advocate, Andrew Morrison.

I have to say I found the whole thing really interesting. I’m a keen gardener but have never heard of permaculture before, so I learned quite a lot. In discussion with some of the others I also picked up all sorts of interesting ideas for more natural and sustainable gardening.

It was the second meeting of Transition Towns that I have attended and I have to say I’ve been impressed by their energy and enthusiasm. Ranging from projects to reduce the amount of waste Upper Hutt produces through to advocacy for more safe and friendly cycle pathways, the group has been doing some great work. Next month I’ve arranged for Climate Change Minister David Parker to come and speak to them about what’s happening at a national level. It should be an interesting meeting.

Prayer service for Zimbabwe

On Sunday afternoon I had the opportunity to attend a prayer service at St Joseph’s Hall for the people of Zimbabwe. The service was organised by the Upper Hutt Catholic Church in solidarity with the innocent pro-democracy Zimbabweans who are being persecuted in their home country. A number of civic leaders were invited to attend in order to show New Zealand’s support both for the Zimbabweans living in New Zealand and also for those who remain there.It was a moving afternoon. Like most New Zealanders I have watched with a great sense of shock and sadness as Zimbabwe descends into violence, lawlessness and dictatorship. It’s one thing to see it from a distance, it is a whole different thing to hear personal stories and accounts and realise the enormity of the situation.

As the Prime Minister Helen Clark has said, “Zimbabwe has suffered enormously under Robert Mugabe’s presidency. A once prosperous country has been bankrupted. A once vibrant society has been intimidated and cowed. In its place is a repressive regime, run for the benefit of a few, under which human rights abuses are the norm. The results of the Parliamentary election and of the first round of the Presidential election expressed a clear demand for change. Mr Mugabe should accept the verdict of his people and stand down”.

In addition, the Minister of Sport and Recreation has written to New Zealand Cricket to abandon the tour to Zimbabwe in July/August 2009. We can only hope that, as a result of pressure from the international community, a transitional government might be formed, which reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people.

Kindergarten Teachers Conference

Last night I had the opportunity to participate in a political panel discussion at the Wellington Kindergarten Teachers Annual Conference. My fellow panellists were candidates from National and the Greens. I was pleased with the reception I received, although it helps when you have such a lot of good stuff to talk about.When Labour became government in 1999 our investment in early childhood education was $291 million. By 2011 it will be over $1.1 billion - a 278 percent increase. If you listen to the National Party you’d be left thinking Labour has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars over the past 8 years instead of giving out large tax cuts, but in reality, that money has gone towards investment in public services just like early childhood education.

We’ve made that investment because we have a vision for the future, a vision that will help every New Zealander achieve their full potential in life. Early on during Labour’s term in office we worked collaboratively with the sector to develop a strategic plan for the early childhood sector, Pathways to the Future: Nga Huarahi Arataki.

Through the development of that plan we were able to agree shared goals including increasing quality, increasing access, and ensuring the system meets the needs of our diverse community. Early childhood education is now an integral part of the public education system. Working together we’ve made the move from childcare to education. Teachers now need to be registered (although that’s still being phased in for some parts of the sector) and there is an early childhood education curriculum. It’s a great track record.

In addition to talking about education, conference attendees were also keen to hear about policies aimed at eliminating poverty, Working for Families, tertiary student support, and flexible work arrangements. Once again, Labour has a great story to tell. By contrast, all the National Party candidate was able to say was either “we don’t have a policy on that” or “I don’t know what our policy on that is”. From the feedback I got at the end of the meeting, I don’t think there were many National voters in the room by the end of it.

The launch of KiwiRail

I don’t think anyone who has taken more than a passing interest in my campaign will be at all surprised to learn that I was excited by the launch of KiwiRail last week. I’m a big fan of rail and I’m looking forward to us making some real progress now that all of the rail system is back in public ownership. In my view, the privatisation experiment failed. Under private ownership, little investment was made in upgrading the rail network, worn out trains weren’t replaced, and usage of rail was scaled back.

Things had to change. If we’re serious about sustainability, then we need to get serious about rail. One train locomotive can pull the same load as 65 trucks. Getting that freight back onto rail will be better for the environment and better for our roads. A major upgrade of our passenger rail services in Wellington and Auckland will also provide commuters with a more attractive alternative to taking the car to work. In time, I’d also love to see the restoration of inter-city rail services.

It took a Labour government to bite the bullet back in 2003 and admit the rail privatisation experiment had failed. We brought back the tracks, but that alone wasn’t enough. Now we’ve got the trains back to, something the National Party have vocally opposed. If the National Party were really true to their principles, they’d commit to selling the railways again if they became government. Instead, they’ve opted for a halfway house by saying they wouldn’t sell “in their first term”. But would they make the much-needed investment in rail so that we can make up for lost time? I doubt it.

Community meeting in Stokes Valley

Earlier in the year I had the opportunity to attend a community meeting in Stokes Valley organised by one of the Hutt City Councillors, Gwen MacDonald. The meeting provided residents with an opportunity to raise any issues they were concerned about. Discussion topics ranged from the location of pedestrian crossings and bus stops through to crime and safety. It was a really useful meeting and I picked up a number of issues that I’ve been working on since.

The first issue I’ve been working on concerns the inadequate street lighting around the shops at the top end of Stokes Valley Road. I raised the issue with the Mayor of Lower Hutt, David Ogden. He has since written to me confirming that the existing street lights will be upgraded very soon. I’m really pleased we were able to get such a quick result from the Council to a legitimate community concern.

Those at the meeting were full of praise for Keith Wright, the local Community Constable, and wanted a reassurance that his role was secure and that he would be given the resources and support he needs. I have raised a number of issues around support for community policing with the Minister of Police, Annette King, and I expect a response shortly.

Cr Gwen MacDonald and I also attended a meeting with Police District Commander Richard Chambers that was organised by current MP Paul Swain. We had the opportunity to feedback to him the concerns raised by the community and he gave us an assurance that community policing would continue to be a priority in the Hutt Valley. We also talked about the introduction of community patrols in Stokes Valley, something the Police are keen to support.

I think the community meeting in Stokes Valley was really useful and I congratulate Gwen for taking the initiative in organising it. I hope I’ll have the opportunity to attend another one next year.

Chris Carter visit to Upper Hutt schools

Last week I arranged for the Minister of Education, Chris Carter, to visit Upper Hutt and Heretaunga Colleges. Earlier in the year I had the opportunity to look around both schools and I share their concerns about the state of their facilities. Both colleges have a desperate need for significant capital investment in the near future to bring their buildings up to scratch. I wanted the Minister to see first hand the state the schools have been left in following the recent moratorium on property funding.

While the Minister’s visit was only brief, I’m confident he got a good feel for the challenges that the schools face. The next step in the process will be for the schools to come up with their 5 year property development plans and put those forward for approval. I think it’s quite likely that the plans they present will clearly demonstrate that extra funding will be required.

A re-cap of recent activity

If you’ve been keeping an eye on my website you will have noticed that I haven’t done much blogging lately. It’s not that there has been any shortage of things to write about, it’s just that I’ve been too busy doing them leaving little time to write about them! Hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll have a bit more time to write more regular postings.

A quick recap on what I’ve been up to lately. In the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to visit the fire stations in the electorate, attend a meeting for new migrants to our community, sit-in on the Upper Hutt City Council’s community forums for senior citizens and those with disabilities, speak to the Upper Hutt Multi-Ethnic Association, and attend the Upper Hutt Young Achievers Awards and the Timberlea Employment Expo.

I’ve also been out and about with the local Labour Party team door knocking and attending Cottage meetings, where I’ve had the opportunity to engage in some really interesting discussions with a wide cross section of the community. On a more informal basis, I’ve been catching up with a wide range of prominent Hutt Valley identities including city councillors, health board members, local media, club and society members, and business people.

Behind the scenes I’ve been following up on a range of issues that people have raised with me. I’ll write more about those issues and they progress, but of particular note, I’ve managed to get some action on concerns raised by residents at a recent meeting in Stokes Valley and arrange for Education Minister Chris Carter to visit Upper Hutt’s two secondary schools so that they can discuss their property concerns directly with him. I’ll write separate posts on those issues shortly too.

A busy couple of weeks

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, both for the government and locally here in the electorate. This week New Zealand played host to World Environment Day, an excellent opportunity to showcase one of the greatest things about our country, our clean green environment. Research was also released that showed the smoking rate in New Zealand is at a record low and we’re healthier than we used to be. Trevor Mallard announced that the rate for Paid Parental Leave will increase, and our Vietnam Veterans received a long overdue apology from the government for the way they were treated when they returned home to New Zealand.

 Here in the electorate I had the opportunity to attend the Upper Hutt City Council’s Seniors Forum. It was a great opportunity for some of our older citizens to have their say about issues that affect them, ranging from public transport through to safety in their homes. The small but passionate bunch that attended had some great ideas and I enjoyed the opportunity to hear their views.

I also had the opportunity to attend the Upper Hutt Young Achievers awards recently. It was a great night and I congratulate all those who were nominated for awards. It’s fantastic to see our senior school students getting so active in the wider community. It’s also great to see some of our local communities getting proactive too. I called into the Timberlea Community House Employment Expo a week or so back and was really impressed with the energy and enthusiasm the event generated. The Timberlea Residents’ Association is doing some great work - keep it up guys!

On a smaller scale, I’ve been attending a number of “Cottage Meetings” throughout the electorate that have been organised by local supporters. These have been a great opportunity to meet people in a more relaxed and informal setting and have a discussion about a wide range of issues. No doubt there will be plenty more of them before the year is out…

The Budget and the Pollsters

Predictably the first round of post-Budget opinion polls is now starting to emerge showing that there has been no sudden and dramatic change in the fortunes of either major party. That’s pretty unsurprising. The pollsters must have been on the phone almost from the moment Dr Cullen sat down after delivering his Budget speech and well before anyone outside of parliament had a chance to hear what was in it, let alone have time to think about it.It’s a pretty sad reflection on the state of our political discourse that the minute something mildly significant happens the pollsters immediately start phoning people to ask them what they think about it before they have even given them the chance to find out the basic facts. I’d be very surprised if most of the people polled actually knew the detail of what was in the Budget, let alone have an informed view on what they thought of it. Unfortunately, none of the pollsters thought to ask them that.

Political news coverage is dominated by opinion polls these days, far more than it used to be. Polls have become more than a commentary on the news, they have become THE news. Take the recent TV coverage of a poll suggesting more New Zealanders support nuclear power than in the past. The vast majority still opposed nuclear power, but it was presented as if there is now a growing call for nuclear energy to be adopted. What prompted the poll in the first place? Who paid for it? How does this justify a news story? It certainly doesn’t seem to justify a “Live” cross to a reporter…

It’s an old cliché that there is only one poll that matters, the one on Election Day, but it’s absolutely true. Last election the Labour Party was consistently behind National in a number of polls leading up to Election Day. That didn’t stop Labour winning the election. While we’ve clearly got a big hill to climb in the lead-up to this year’s poll, six months is a very long time in politics and the only poll we need to win is the one that happens on Election Day.

PS. If you’ve ever wondered what the pollsters are talking about when they refer to the ‘margin of error’ you might like to check out the excellent explanation on The Standard. They explain how polls aren’t always that accurate.

Embarrassing for National

It’s a bit embarrassing for National that they haven’t asked a single question of the Finance Minister since he delivered his Budget last week. John Key and Bill English want to be PM and Minister of Finance this time next year and they haven’t demonstrated any evidence to show that they are on top of the economic challenges facing New Zealand. The smaller parties managed to ask Dr Cullen questions in the House and even then National didn’t ask a single supplementary question.When the Labour Party was in opposition Michael Cullen produced an alternative budget every year setting out in great detail how Labour would have done things differently. Why hasn’t the National Party done the same? They could be playing their cards close to their chests till closer to the election, but one would have to ask why that would be. What are they trying to hide?

It could be that they can’t get their numbers to add up. John Key has been promising much bigger tax cuts than the ones Labour delivered last week (at least $50 a week was their most recent promise), but when asked how he will pay for them he’s been suddenly very silent. Another reason could be that they don’t want the give the public too much opportunity to work out that their numbers don’t add up. Then again, it could be that they just can’t be bothered. They’re riding high in the polls, why bother?

The National Party’s approach shows contempt for the New Zealand public. Kiwis have a right to know what they’re voting for. They have a right to know what National would do in government. The only thing the National Party have been able to clearly demonstrate this week is how cynically they are approaching this year’s general election.