Te Au rere a te Tonga is a youth justice residence facility in Palmerston North.
New Zealand has a 50-year track record with military-style boot camps for unruly youths.
Suze Redmayne is MP for Rangitīkei
OPINION
It’s great to be back in the mighty Rangitīkei after wrapping up a busy three-week sitting block in Parliament - working hard to pass crucial legislation to get New Zealand back on track.
Last Friday I had the privilege of hosting our Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon. We visited the Military Style Academy Pilot at Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North.
It was a privilege to meet the dedicated team who are doing incredible work with the young people on the pilot to help them turn their lives around. Watching the interactions between the youths and their mentors and hearing from them how the programme is helping them to look ahead to their futures was truly inspiring for me.
After lunch with the Rangitīkei Lunch Club at Awapuni, where local leaders and community members gathered to hear from the Prime Minister, we headed to Fonterra’s Research and Development Centre.
I think this world-class facility is adding value to the dairy sector with innovative products and services that are sold all around the world.
It was fantastic to tour the centre and meet with some of the 350 staff who are driving this cutting-edge dairy innovation.
With 100 PhDs and more than 45 nationalities represented, the centre really is a global powerhouse making a significant impact on the world stage – incredible to have it right here in the Rangitīkei electorate.
The 288 dairy farms that supply Fonterra in the Rangitīkei electorate received welcome news in late September after Fonterra announced their FY24 financial results.
Suze Redmayne, National MP for Rangitīkei.
Farmer shareholders will receive a dividend of $0.55 per share, and the co-op has lifted its 2024/25 forecast Farmgate Milk Price by $0.50 per kg of milk solids. Good news for farmers and good news for Rangitīkei – for every 5-cent increase in the Farmgate Milk Price, an extra $2.2 million enters the local economy.
The good news for the local economy doesn’t stop there either; just last week Minister of Trade Todd McClay signed a new trade agreement with the United Arab Emirates.
I consider this to be a big win for Rangitīkei’s hard-working farmers and horticultural producers – the agreement will scrap duties on 98.5% of our exports to the UAE immediately when it comes into effect, meaning more cash in their pockets.
I feel Federated Farmers summed it up well by saying “this agreement will take millions of dollars that would have been charged in tariffs and pump them directly into our rural communities”.
Parliament is in recess until October 15 and I’m enjoying spending time in the electorate.
On Friday, October 11, I’ll be at the Feilding Rural Day at Manchester Square with friends and colleagues from the Rural Nats – be sure to say hi if you see us.
We’ll also be at Murray’s Irish Bar on Fergusson St, Feilding, from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.
