Defending his Wairarapa seat, the Minister and one-time volunteer firefighter has been in the thick of it in recent months with the thing troubling many of his constituents - traffic holdups.
The prolonged works on State Highway 2 between Masterton and Carterton, construction of new roundabouts and safety barriers, and lowering of the speed limit to 80 kilometres per hour all the way to Featherston has been “a source of immense frustration for me”.
On the topic of crime, McAnulty said it’s not just about adding more police numbers, but that child poverty needs to be tackled at the same time.
“That requires investment and it requires pretty intimate and detailed interventions.”
McAnulty also recognises that the task of curbing youth crime will not happen overnight “because those youth that are offending, that didn’t happen overnight”.