The general election is not far away.
The Bush Telegraph contacted the main candidates or parties for the electorate on a number of issues affecting the Tararua District. While it is not possible to provide detailed responses, the main points are summarised below.
Access to medical facilities/doctors - the growing crisis in rural healthcare
Kieran McAnulty – Labour
Grow and invest in domestic doctors.
Focus on fairness – everyone is entitled to care no matter who they are or where they live. Health reforms are focused on offering more convenient services in the community near where you live.
Democracy NZ
Financial incentives to attract more doctors and nurses to regional towns. Increase the number of qualified nurses by creating a new model to train nurses, and increase the number of doctors by increasing medical school places.
Prioritise care based on need.
Mike Butterick – National
Reintroduce health targets. Increase investment in health every year and focus on frontline services. Fix shortages in the health workforce by way of incentives and train more doctors for placement in rural and provincial areas.
Act
Act has released a variety of policies that will improve regional and rural health outcomes. Foremost, Act is committed to increasing GP capitation funding by 13 per cent.
Act will also create an easier pathway for doctors trained in comparable overseas jurisdictions to practise in New Zealand.
Celia Wade-Brown – Greens
The Green Party will train more doctors, dentists and nurses and support rural communities to have quality care for patients. Our free dental care plan includes dental vans and portable clinics.
The crisis in ED departments can be linked directly to difficult access to primary care but the focus is always the “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff”.
A coordinated drive to recruit more GPs and nurse practitioners is required and practice nurses should be paid the same as colleagues in a hospital.
The cost for owners of commercial buildings in earthquake-strengthening compliance
Kieran McAnulty
The uncertainty arising from various factors means that %NBS [level of compliance with New Building Standards] should be viewed as indicative of the engineer’s confidence in the expected seismic performance of the building rather than an exact prediction.
Building ratings were not intended to be used to support building occupancy decisions. Building owners or tenants who have received a seismic assessment with a lowrating should refer to MBIE’s Seismic Risk Guidance for Buildings to understand their seismic assessment and options for how to respond.
Democracy NZ
Re-evaluate the strictness of earthquake compliance standards for one-storey buildings in regional areas, offer financial assistance or tax incentives to building owners and give territorial authorities more discretion in assessing and addressing earthquake risks.
Mike Butterick
Advocate for pragmatic responses to these sorts of issues and make sure the local voice is heard in Wellington. National has a plan to make construction work more affordable by streamlining business consents to cut compliance costs. Reform the RMA.
Act
In 2016 Act opposed the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Bill on the grounds that it failed to exempt low-risk areas and imposed arbitrary standardised costs across New Zealand. This one-size-fits-all approach may need to be reconsidered and a genuine risk-based approach implemented.
Celia Wade-Brown
Acknowledges Tararua District has a history of large earthquakes and known active faults.
“Even single-storey buildings can damage customers and passersby in an earthquake.”
Successive governments have created more regulations for local governments to follow but have not provided the funding to address the issues arising. “I think there should be more government support to modify older earthquake-prone buildings in town centres or we risk unattractive, unsafe town centres that no one can afford to fix.”
Promotion of the region to business and immigrants
Kieran McAnulty
New Zealand’s regions are vital to our economic future, with each region having its own opportunities and challenges. Labour wants to support all regions to achieve their potential so that we see improved living standards for all New Zealanders.
Democracy NZ
Provide tax breaks and financial incentives to medium and large enterprises that relocate to regional towns, reform immigration policies focusing on attracting skilled workers and entrepreneurs and develop programmes and initiatives to attract young people to rural communities.
Mike Butterick
National’s key priority is rebuilding our economy to grow incomes and reduce the cost of living. This means backing our farmers to do what they do best without adding more unnecessary costs and red tape, and by opening up new markets for them to sell our high-value products.
Will advocate for the region to attract more young people to live and work here.
Act
What is needed is cuts to unnecessary red tape, which inhibits productivity and growth through a variety of policies such as a new Environmental Protection Act and a new Urban Development Act.
Get rid of the complicated and burdensome system for temporary work visas.
Cut tax rates.
Celia Wade-Brown
Continued investment in regional development with a focus on sustainable building, regenerative agriculture and horticulture, improving low-carbon infrastructure and local economic activity.
Commit to government departments buying more goods and services from New Zealand businesses.
We would commit to government departments buying more goods and services from New Zealand businesses.
Public transport and services such as banking and cellular coverage
Kieran McAnulty
I have delivered record investment in public transport south of the Tararua District, including improving the Wairarapa rail line and securing funding for new trains. My priority now is to push for an upgrade to the track between Masterton and Woodville, with an eye to eventually introducing passenger rail between Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu, Wairarapa and Wellington.
Democracy NZ
Invest in public transport infrastructure to connect rural areas and provide convenient access to essential services and amenities.
Work with financial institutions to expand banking services in rural areas.
Look into the partnership between Starlink and One NZ to assess if this is viable for rural NZ.
Mike Butterick
I’ll advocate for the right transport options for the Wairarapa electorate. For most people, this is making sure we’ve got safe and efficient roads that aren’t being unnecessarily slowed down by Labour’s silly speed limit reductions. As a farmer I understand there’s still work to do on mobile blackspots and I’m proud of the work National has done with this in the past.
Act
Although Act has no policy on rural connectivity issues, mobility issues and regional public transport issues, we do acknowledge that these issues are inhibiting growth in regional New Zealand.
Celia Wade-Brown
We need a balanced transport network with more regional and inter-regional rail.
We need a greater emphasis on road safety such as median barriers on busy regional roads
Investing in rail to get more freight and private vehicles off our state highway network is absolutely essential.
Support regional councils to run smaller buses connecting with rail stations.
Our plan includes improving digital connectivity. Support for people to use these services is also necessary, including avoiding internet scams.
The cost of living
Kieran McAnulty
Our cost-of-living plan will deal with the pressures whānau are facing right now while laying the foundations for a better future – without making inflation worse, like tax cuts would.
A re-elected Labour Government will introduce the biggest-ever increase to the Working for Families In-Work Tax Credit, putting an extra $25 back in the weekly budget for those who need it most. We’ll also raise the income threshold so people can earn more without losing eligibility.
Democracy NZ
This is a multi-faceted issue which needs detailed attention, our economic policy will help to alleviate these concerns.
Mike Butterick
National will stop Labour’s planned fuel tax increase and deliver meaningful tax relief for hardworking Kiwis, up to $250 a fortnight for a family. We’ll balance the books, stop the waste and rebuild our economy to get the cost of living under control.
Act
To reduce cost pressures on everyday Kiwis, Act proposes to:
Celia Wade-Brown
A fair tax system. Make sure those most able to pay contribute more through fairer taxes to support people who are struggling.
A simple set of enforceable rules for renters and more warm, affordable homes in places people want to live.
Property rates/three waters
Kieran McAnulty
As Minister of Local Government I have committed to the local government sector to sit down with them and come to an agreement as to how we can limit the increases of rates. Limiting future rates increases was a prime rationale behind the affordable water reforms.
The Tararua District needs to find $600m over the next 30 years to upgrade and maintain water services. This is unaffordable.
Democracy NZ
Property rate relief programmes for seniors and individuals on fixed incomes.
Oppose co-governance on three waters. Different areas have different needs, and this needs to be organised by local experts in the know.
Mike Butterick
Rates are going up in large part thanks to Labour’s rampant inflation, driving up councils’ costs across the board. We’d like to see councils focused on the issues that matter. We need to get the cost of living down for our seniors, which is why we’ll increase super every year, retain the Winter Energy Payment and reduce the cost of living.
National will repeal Three Waters and will instead sit down with each council to discuss tailor-made solutions that are fit for purpose.
Act
Act’s GST sharing policy would share 50 per cent of the GST revenue of a new house between the Government and the local council that issued the consent to help them cover the infrastructure costs.
This system of funding would reduce the need for councils to increase rates to cover the increased costs associated with resource consenting.
Act will return water assets to councils, allow them to enter into voluntary shared services agreements, as well as other measures.
Celia Wade-Brown
Does not directly respond on the issues raised.
We need greater revenue sharing between central and local government.
Does not answer the issues around the three waters reform.
Roading
Kieran McAnulty
In this year’s Budget we established the $419 million Transport Resilience Fund to support investments that support our region’s recovery. Investing in resilience creates savings down the road, as well as ensuring communities aren’t cut off and isolated after extreme weather.
Waka Kotahi is fixing a record number of potholes across the state highway network. It repaired 54,544 potholes in calendar 2022, compared with 39,652 in 2018.
Democracy NZ
Allocate funds for road maintenance and repairs, prioritising areas with the most critical infrastructure needs.
Implement a proactive maintenance schedule to address potholes and road deterioration promptly.
Involve local communities in identifying road maintenance priorities and solutions through consultation and collaboration.
Mike Butterick
National will focus on building and maintaining roads.
We will introduce a $500m Pothole Repair Fund focusing on fixing our roads throughout provincial areas.
Act
Fundamentally New Zealand’s transport network is straining under the weight of population growth, and the costs for delivering new projects are high.
Act will implement a world-class toll road and real-time road pricing system. This will allow users to pay for their road use dependent on when and where they use them.
Act will also allow the use of public-private partnerships to fund transport infrastructure.
Celia Wade-Brown
The introduction of heavier trucks, together with freezing the maintenance funding to fund Roads of National Significance, made a huge problem of which we are now seeing the consequences.
Dramatic increases in rainfall have compounded the maintenance problem, especially for small rural councils with huge roading networks that are essential for residents, workers, school buses and visitors alike.
Comment - Listening to the people
Kieran McAnulty
I take great pride in being told that I am the most visible MP the Tararua District has had in a very long time. I have been a regular presence in the district since becoming local MP, including even after becoming a minister. I take pride in this and will continue doing so if re-elected.
Democracy NZ
We absolutely agree that the people know best. Our role in Government will be to advocate for, and facilitate the needs of the people of New Zealand.
Mike Butterick
My view, and the National Party’s view, is that locals understand their issues; they also have thought of the solutions, therefore they need to be asked and listened to, then empowered and trusted to resolve their challenges.
Celia Wade-Brown
Green MPs and candidates seek to connect with as many people as possible and talk to them about issues important to them.
NZ First was also contacted but did not respond by the deadline.
Hastings has grown faster than expected in recent years.